Oct 24 2017
Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) today released a review of online educational services used by educators and students in Ontario classrooms. The review includes best practices for protecting student privacy and ensuring compliance with Ontario privacy laws.
When signing ...
Sep 25 2017
The summer of 2017 went by fast at the IPC! As we were busy conducting our normal activities, we were also preparing guidance for health care providers on the important amendments to Ontario’s health privacy law.
Some of the amendments to the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) w...
Sep 21 2017
Poor records and information management (RIM) practices can have a number of negative impacts on an institution and its staff. This can include affecting the quality of responses to freedom of information (FOI) requests, hindering transparency and accountability, and jeopardizing privacy of perso...
Sep 18 2017
Just about everyone is asked at one time or another to provide photo identification. Being asked for your health card for identification purposes has raised a few questions about when it is acceptable to ask for or show a health card for this purpose. This is especially true for individuals whose...
Sep 06 2017
Starting on October 1, 2017, it will be mandatory for anyone who deals with health information to report certain privacy breaches to the Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC).
Designed to better protect patient privacy and improve accountability and transparency in the health care system, th...
Aug 23 2017
The IPC is often asked how institutions should handle FOI requests that they deem to be frivolous and vexatious. Ontario’s access and privacy laws give individuals the right to access their own personal information and government-held records unless an exemption applies, or the request is found...
Jul 21 2017
Recently we’ve received several questions about accessing information from a business, and other issues concerning privacy in the private sector in Ontario.
Because Ontario doesn’t have its own private-sector privacy law, the personal information-handling practices of businesses in this provi...
Jun 19 2017
Today we released our 2016 Annual Report, Facing Challenges Together, in which Commissioner Brian Beamish calls on the government to modernize Ontario’s access and privacy laws to better protect Ontarians’ rights, especially in the era of big data.
In his report, the Commissioner makes seven ...
May 24 2017
The IPC is pleased to announce our collaboration with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) in a joint research effort to evaluate online educational services.
This collaborative effort is part of a larger, annual “Privacy Sweep” (Sweep) initiative being carried out this week...
May 17 2017
Big data is increasingly used by government institutions to shape and improve policies, programs and services affecting the public they serve. While big data may benefit individuals, it also raises a number of privacy, fairness and ethical concerns about how institutions use it to process persona...