| On March 29, 2012, Debbie Douez field a class action lawsuit against social networking giant, Facebook, alleging that its “sponsored stories” advertising practice breaches British Columbian privacy law. The problem was that a Facebook “like” was being equated with consent to use a person’s name and photo in ads on their friends’ pages. Companies and organizations can pay Facebook to have these ads show up repeatedly on friends’ pages. According to the BC privacy commissioner’s office, the practice is covered under BC’s Privacy Act, BC’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) and the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act [...] On Tuesday, January 18 2011, Facebook announced its decision to suspend the controversial feature allowing developers to access users’ home addresses and mobile numbers. The announcement comes just days after the social networking website decided to share users’ contact information with third party app developers. Privacy watchdogs have long decried Facebook’s privacy and security failings, which have affected its over 500 million users [...] The EU-US Safe Harbor framework was developed to facilitate the cross-border transmission of information, as well as ensure high standards of privacy protection. This article explores the implementation of these principles in context of the Children’s Advertising Review Unit (CARU) Safe Harbor [...] The province of Quebec was one of the first to develop a legislative framework around access to information and protection of individual privacy rights. The legislation developed in Quebec has been used as an important resource for the federal Privacy Commissioner, as well as in the development of laws in other [...] The Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) represents a comprehensive model for the protection of personal health information in the province of Ontario. The PHIPA is one of parts of the Health Information Protection Act, the other being the Quality of Care Information Protection Act. About the PHIPA The PHIPA was enacted November 1, 2004 and outlines privacy policies and practices for health information custodians in the province of Ontario. It was necessary to develop the appropriate legislative provisions for Ontario health care providers to ensure the privacy of personal health information in a way that is consistent with effective health care [...] When Google launched its social networking tool, Google Buzz in February 2010, privacy advocates around the world raised concerns regarding its features. Although Google has since made significant changes, the compromises and intrusions of privacy still remain a troubling characteristic of many Web services and online networking [...] The Fair Information Practices Principles form the backbone of privacy law in the United States and the concepts they include have played a significant role in the development of data protection laws around the globe. Understanding the Fair Information Practice Principles and how they should be implemented is critical to comply with the various privacy laws that protect personal [...] The development of information privacy and data protection laws has sought to give data subjects greater control over their personal information. The concepts of choice and consent have been key to granting data subjects such control by allowing them the opportunity to make informed choices regarding who has access to their information and how it may be [...] | |
