Well, since last week’s note, a few things have happened. Vaccine passports are rolling out in various provinces, and there seems to be a fair amount of confusion about what businesses should actually collect as proof for entry. I had a chance to share some views on this with the Toronto Star (see below). 

The Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia, continuing its long tradition as an office that punches well above its weight, issued its annual report, highlighting work, issues and trends from the past year. 

Oh, and we got federal election results that were pretty much identical to what we had before the multimillion dollar election. Remember, the Liberals promised to “move forward on legislation that will implement the Digital Charter, strengthen privacy protection for consumers and provide a clear set of rules that ensure fair competition in the online marketplace.” They also said they’ll “establish a digital policy task force to integrate efforts… position Canada as a leader in the digital economy and shape global governance of emerging technologies, including with respect to data and privacy rights….” With this, some version of C-11 seems probable, don’t you think?

A new Quebec law was also adopted earlier this week. If you haven’t already, it’s high time to study up and understand how it’s rolling out. Various analyses have started to flow out from privacy pros, including this one, that are worth reading. Quebec was first out of the gate with the first generation of Canadian private sector privacy legislation, and now they’re ahead again with a reformed law. There has to be a prize for that. 

One thing I like to see, whether explicit or implied in privacy legislation, is public education. This week at the dinner table, one of our teens was explaining that, in class, they picked a news topic and looked at it through various lenses and online sources. It’s things like this that can help our kids be good, savvy digital citizens. Some of you know I teach privacy law to young adults, and I’ve seen a lot of good stuff to educate teenagers, but I think a lot more is needed to reach kids about these issues and about privacy at a much younger age. If you think about it, it’s really the ultimate in privacy by design to bake this thinking, early on, into the next generation. 

With that in mind, I thought it was pretty cool to see that Daniel Solove put out a children’s book, "The Eyemonger." And, closer to home, yesterday, the Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner unveiled a new privacy activity book, "Privacy Pursuit," where younger kids can learn about privacy through a ton of fun games and puzzles. It’s part of a broader commitment by the IPC to focus on children and youth in a digital world — one of their strategic priorities. 

So here’s an idea. Let’s all check it out, share it with the kids (and people with kids) in our lives, and literally play our bit in public education. Have a great weekend!