Eliminate immunity for telecoms in C-13: privacy commish

OTTAWA — Federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien told a House of Commons committee on Tuesday that he was troubled by provisions in the government’s cyberbullying legislation that give immunity to telecommunications companies who provide information voluntarily to authorities.

Therrien, who was confirmed as privacy commissioner last week, said he was concerned the “broad language” in the bill could lead to more voluntary disclosures and formal requests.

Vodafone says some countries tap into customer lines

British-based telecom-service provider Vodafone Group PLC said in a law enforcement disclosure report Friday that the governments of some countries in which it operates have direct access to its networks, allowing their agencies to monitor the communications of the company's customers.

Rogers received over 170,000 sub-info requests in 2013

Rogers Communications Inc. said Thursday it received 174,917 requests for information on subscribers from government agencies last year, though it did not say with how many it complied.

Telecoms should provide warrantless disclosure stats: Therrien

OTTAWA — Daniel Therrien, the government’s nominee for privacy commissioner, told senators Tuesday that telecom companies should disclose statistics about the number of requests for information they receive.

“Absolutely, I am concerned with the issue of warrantless disclosure and the number of these disclosures that was revealed is of great concern,” he said during an appearance in front of the Senate committee of the whole on Tuesday afternoon.

Advocacy groups object to nominee for privacy commish

OpenMedia.ca said Friday it has sent a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper — on behalf of itself and other advocacy groups — protesting his nomination for a new federal privacy commissioner.

OpenMedia, which advocates for an open Internet, said in a news release that its letter has been signed by other groups, such as the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), B.C. Civil Liberties Association, B.C. Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, and the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC).

Bill C-13 needs amending: Geist

Law professor Michael Geist called on the government to strike out parts of the lawful-access provisions in its so-called cyberbullying bill at an appearance on Parliament Hill on Thursday, saying that Bill C-13 should be amended to ensure “appropriate safeguards against misuse of our personal information.”

Daniel Therrien nominated as next privacy commish

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has nominated Daniel Therrien as the next federal privacy commissioner.

Harper’s office issued the announcement through a press release on Wednesday. Therrien is currently an assistant deputy attorney general at the Department of Justice with responsibility for public safety, defence and immigration, the Prime Minster’s Office said.

The office said Therrien became a member of the Quebec bar in 1981 and has held several federal government positions since then.

S-4 copyright trolling concerns not ‘valid’: Moore

OTTAWA — Industry Minister James Moore said Wednesday that he is not concerned that the government’s Digital Privacy Act will, as critics as have charged, open the door to copyright trolls.

Ont. privacy commish blasts federal cyberbullying bill

Ontario’s information and privacy commissioner on Wednesday criticized the federal government’s so-called cyberbullying bill, C-13, saying it would “invade the privacy of every Canadian.”

"I'm astounded that this government, which was so concerned about the privacy of Canadians that it cancelled both the long-form census and the long-gun registry, is unwavering in its attempts to pass a bill which invades the privacy of every Canadian,” Ann Cavoukian said in a press release.

Study outlines positives, negatives of an Internet of Things future

Experts from industry and academia mostly agree that by 2025 the Internet of Things will be pervasive and ubiquitous while agreeing on little else in a new report from the Pew Research Center.

Jeremy Depow starts roundtable on digital policy

A new organization has been formed to facilitate discussions on public policy relating to  technology.

Canada’s Digital Policy Forum bills itself on its website as “a new and unique roundtable that focuses on issues in the high technology space. CDPF’s mission is to promote public policies that advance the growth of technology and the digital economy in Canada.”

Telecoms don’t give out customer info ‘willy-nilly’: Bell ombudsman

OTTAWA — Telecommunications companies don’t voluntarily give out confidential customer information to the government, said William Abbott, senior counsel and privacy ombudsman at BCE Inc.

“I do not know a single TSP [telecommunication service provider] that makes voluntary disclosures of confidential customer information to the government,” Abbott said, adding that the use of the word “warrantless” is misleading because companies provide that information to a lawful authority.

Microsoft extending Explorer fix to XP users: report

Despite saying it was ending support for Windows XP last month, Microsoft Corp. will make an exception in making a security update for Internet Explorer available to users of that operating system, Reuters reported.

The news agency said updates started being sent on Thursday, and it quoted Microsoft spokeswoman Adrienne Hall as saying XP users would get it.

“We decided to fix it, fix it fast, and fix it for all our customers,” she said in a statement, according to the article.

Bell defends targeted ad program as ‘transparent’

BCE Inc.’s chief legal and regulatory officer told a Senate hearing on Wednesday night that his company’s targeted advertising program respects Canada’s current privacy laws.

Mirko Bibic repeatedly compared his company to Facebook Inc. and Google Inc., which he said have access to richer and more personal data than Bell, and said his company needs the targeted advertising program to compete with those “global players.”

Privacy czar calls for greater powers on telecom data sharing

Interim Privacy Commissioner Chantal Bernier said Tuesday that new legislation is needed to compel Canada’s telecom companies to disclose when they hand over subscribers’ private information to other parties, including government agencies, without a warrant.

Bernier, speaking at a Senate transport and communications committee hearing into privacy and data collection policies at BCE Inc., said her office is unaware how many government requests are made for customer data or how many of them are fulfilled.

Verizon Wireless tracking users’ home Internet usage for ads

Verizon Communications Inc.’s so-called relevant mobile advertising program is being expanded to use information about wireless customers’ home Internet habits in order to help its marketing partners target ads to individual users.

The U.S. telecom firm’s mobile arm, Verizon Wireless, has a notice on its website about an “enhancement” of that program that will “help marketers reach you with messages that may be more interesting to you. “

Companies pledge millions to prevent rerun of Heartbleed bug

More than a dozen of the world’s biggest technology firms are dedicating millions of dollars to an initiative that will fund open-source projects in response to the Heartbleed bug that affected security for millions of web users around the world in early April, it was announced Thursday.

Twitter purchase signals growing importance of data tracking

Twitter Inc. said Tuesday it is acquiring social media analytics provider Gnip Inc., a move one analyst said could cause trouble for other companies that analyze and monetize the social network’s data.

Seth Grimes, a New York-based independent analyst with expertise in online analytics, said the deal makes sense for Twitter, which picks up a key player in the industry that has sprung up to take advantage of the reams of data produced by social media sites.

Jury out on what Digital Privacy Act does to privacy, copyright

The Digital Privacy Act, the government’s most recent attempt to update the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), has experts disagreeing about the effect it could have on disclosure of information by telecommunications companies and whether the legislation would open the door for “U.S.-style copyright trolls.”

BlackBerry plans collaboration with health-tech company

BlackBerry Ltd. on Tuesday said it had made an investment in and was planning to collaborate with a heath-technology company in the United States.

CIRA adds feature to combat ‘domain hijacking’

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA), which manages the dot-ca domain, on Tuesday announced a “registry lock” to combat incidents of “domain hijacking.”

CIRA said in a press release its new feature would make sure “a domain name is locked at the registry level,” which would ensure that any redirection, information alteration or ownership changes of a website would need verification through CIRA and the website’s registrar.

Google Glass available in U.S. for one day

Google Inc. will make its Glass wearable device available to the general public in the United States in a one-day sale on Tuesday.

The device will sell Tuesday for $1,500 US, the company said in a blog post last Thursday.

Since last year, the device has been available to a select group of developers, contest winners and invitees as the company tests the product ahead of its mass-market availability.

‘Small risk’ of Heartbleed to BBM users on Android, iOS

BlackBerry Ltd. said Monday that there is an “extremely small” risk to the security of BBM communications from the Heartbleed bug on devices powered by Apple Inc.’s iOS software or Google Inc.’s Android system.

Facebook hands over data on half of government requests

Facebook Inc. received 174 requests for information from the Canadian government regarding 217 accounts between July and December of last year, the company said in its second Global Government Requests report.

According to the report, some data was produced in 50 per cent of those requests.

Digital Privacy Act tabled in Senate

The federal government on Tuesday announced it has introduced the new Digital Privacy Act in the Senate, which, among other things, proposes fining companies up to $100,000 for not informing Canadians when their personal data is breached.

U.S. warns EU on Europe-only data network

Government’s long-awaited digital strategy ‘nothing new’: analyst

A document released by Industry Minister James Moore Friday that outlines the government’s long-promised digital strategy includes “nothing new and nothing bold,” according to telecom analyst Jean-Francois Mezei of Vaxination Informatique.

The government has already put in place many of the measures included in the strategy, Mezei said, making the document “more of a report card than a vision for the future.”

Crack down on free online services: PIAC

The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) is calling on governments to do more to protect people from companies that offer so-called free online services.

In a press release issued Wednesday, it said consumers have little protection when they encounter problems or have disputes about issues such as privacy with companies that offer online services that entail no direct charges.

Government accessed personal telecom info more than 18,000 times in year

Canada’s telecommunications companies handed over personal information from their subscribers, including call records and website visits, more than 18,000 times between April 2012 and March 2013, the government revealed on Tuesday.

Rules could stymie inquiry of telecoms’ info disclosure to government

Chris Parsons suspects he won’t get the answers he’s looking for.

At the very least he’s hoping the public will soon know why.

Bell says small-business client info hacked

BCE Inc. on Sunday said a breach resulted in 22,421 user names and passwords belonging to its small-business customers being posted online during the weekend, along with five valid credit card numbers. 

Bell said the hacking occurred at an Ottawa-based third-party supplier, and that its own network and IT systems were not compromised.

The company said it has been contacting the companies affected and is working with the third-party supplier and authorities to find out what happened.

NDP’s privacy reform bill defeated

Bill C-475, the NDP private members’ bill that aimed to reform the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), was defeated in the House of Commons Wednesday.

The bill, which was defeated at second reading, was introduced by NDP MP Charmaine Borg.

It would have given the federal privacy commissioner the power to order companies to change their privacy policies and their handling of individuals' personal information, as well as requiring organizations to notify the privacy commissioner of data breaches.

Privacy commissioner calls for more cyber-surveillance oversight

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner tabled a report on cyber-surveillance Tuesday, recommending more oversight and stronger reporting mechanisms.

Among other recommendations, the report said that “the use of various disclosure provisions under [the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA)] where private-sector entities such as telecommunications companies release personal information to national security entities without court oversight” should be reported publicly.

Telecoms shouldn’t track customer habits for marketing: PIAC

To permit BCE Inc. to collect customers’ personal information and track their activities for marketing and advertising purposes “allows Bell to change the nature of what a telecom-service provider is paid to do,” said a lawyer who’s filed an application with the CRTC challenging this practice.

“They’re moving away from neutrally passing [on] a message to also being in the business of advertising and marketing,” Geoffrey White, lawyer with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), said in a phone interview.

Academics ask telcos about information disclosure to government

A group of academics have written to Canada’s leading telecommunications-service providers to ask them about the sharing of customer information with government agencies.

The academics sent letters to BCE Inc., Rogers Communications Inc., Cogeco Cable Inc., Telus Corp. and several other providers of mobile, home-phone and/or Internet service.

Google’s use of health information illegal: privacy commissioner

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada said Wednesday that Google Inc. breached Canadian privacy law by using individuals’ health information to provide them with targeted advertisements.

The office said in a release that it launched an investigation after a man with sleep apnea complained that after doing online searches for medical treatments, he was “followed” by advertisements relating to his condition when visiting websites that had nothing to do with sleep apnea.

Bill C-8 passes committee with some amendments

The Conservative government’s new anti-counterfeiting bill passed committee stage with amendments and was referred back to the House of Commons for further debate, a parliamentary committee said.