Teresa Scassa - Blog

Last week I wrote about a very early ‘finding’ under Canada’s Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act which raises some issues about how the law might apply in the rapidly developing big data environment. This week I look at a more recent ‘finding’ – this time 5 years old – that should raise red flags regarding the extent to which Canada’s laws will protect individual privacy in the big data age. In 2009, the…

A long past and largely forgotten ‘finding’* from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada offers important insights into the challenges that big data and big data analytics will pose for the protection of Canadians’ privacy and consumer rights. 13 years ago, former Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski issued his findings on a complaint that had been brought against a bank. The complainant had alleged that the bank had wrongfully denied her access to her…