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The House of Common’s Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics has released a lengthy 110 page study on privacy and social media entitled “Privacy and Social Media in an Age of Big Data.” The report includes recommendations for new Privacy Commissioner guidelines. The NDP supplemented those recommendations with nine additional legislative proposals, the most important of which include mandatory security breach disclosure, order making power for the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and the inclusion of privacy issues as part of a national digital economy strategy. Some of the key recommendations are included immediately below. They are:
- Recommendation 1 – The Committee recommends that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada establish guidelines directed at social media and data management companies to help them develop practices that fully comply with PIPEDA, particularly accountability and openness.
- Recommendation 2 - The Committee recommends that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada establish guidelines directed at social media and data management companies to help them develop policies, agreements and contracts that are drafted in clear, accessible language that facilitates meaningful and ongoing consent.
- Recommendation 3 – The Committee recommends that the Privacy Commissioner of Canada establish guidelines directed at social media and data management companies to help them put in place mechanisms that ensure individuals have access to any personal information that those companies may hold about them, that limit how long those companies hold on to that information and that facilitate the deletion of such information.
- Recommendation 4 - The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada and social media companies continue to provide support to organizations that provide education and training on digital activities and privacy.
- Recommendation 5 - The Committee urges social media companies to play a larger role in promoting safe and active online activities that protect the privacy and personal information of individuals, particularly in regard to vulnerable
- groups such as children and young persons.
- Recommendation 6 - The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada and social media companies continue to provide support to organizations dedicated to educating and promoting awareness to children, their parents and teachers to protect their personal information and privacy online.
- Recommendation 7 - The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada continue to provide support to digital literacy programs.
The NDP members of the Committee also added the following recommendations:
- Recommendation 1: New Democrats recommend that the government grant enforcement powers to the Privacy Commissioner such as order making powers and the authority to impose administrative monetary penalties.
- Recommendation 2: New Democrats recommend that the government require all organizations to report data breaches or losses to the Privacy Commissioner where a reasonable person would find that the breach or loss presents any risk of harm to the individuals affected.
- Recommendation 3: New Democrats recommend that the government modernize Canadian privacy laws to measure up to privacy protections in comparable democracies and to ensure that the personal information of Canadians is well protected in the digital age.
- Recommendation 4: New Democrats recommend that the government review Schedule 1 of PIPEDA to clarify that express consent should generally be sought for disclosure of personal information to third parties and that this is especially necessary where such disclosure is a requirement of an end-user license agreement.
- Recommendation 5: New Democrats recommend that privacy issues constitute an essential part of a comprehensive digital economy strategy for Canada.
- Recommendation 6: New Democrats recommend that the government consider reviewing PIPEDA and corresponding regulations to encourage organizations to implement the practice of privacy by design.
- Recommendation 7: New Democrats recommend that PIPEDA, corresponding regulations, and any relevant statutes be amended to encourage organizations to implement Do Not Track functions.
- Recommendation 8: New Democrats recommend that the government continue to study ways in which to best protect the personal information of children online while encouraging that they too benefit from the social, cultural, and democratic benefits of the online world.
- Recommendation 9: New Democrats recommend that the government conduct a study on the privacy policy known as the “right to be forgotten” and report back to Parliament.
Related articles
- More Privacy Protection for Nunavut (dataprivacyandsecuritylaw.com)
- Reported data losses of public information at all-time high, privacy watchdog says (o.canada.com)
- Australian Privacy Commissioner requests briefing with Google to discuss Glass (stopthecyborgs.org)
- Government data breached thousands of times in last decade, documents say (o.canada.com)
- Increased use of Technology has Canadians Concerned About Privacy (theepochtimes.com)
- Privacy commissioners issue please-explain about Google Glass (delimiter.com.au)
- NEWS: Nunavut information and privacy czar to get more powers (nunatsiaqonline.ca)
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Clik here to view.
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