1/ Spent some time going through Canada's new privacy bill (Bill C-36). At over 100 pages, there's a lot to unpack here. Here are a few initial observations, but I reserve the right to change my mind on any of this because it's a beast... 🧵
Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne today issued the following statement regarding the tabling of Bill C-36, the Protecting Privacy and Consumer Data Act.
www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/...
Josh Tabish
It looks like the current government is implementing a "Data Commissioner" first proposed in Trudeau's 2019 election platform. Online Harms, Private Sector Privacy and likely AI will all be under the purview of one new regulator. #BillC36
It's worth noting that there's nothing new in #BillC36 that has anything to do with "surveillance pricing". The provision that the Minister pointed to in his presser has been in PIPEDA since 2001.
I have regularly butted heads with the Privacy Commissioners we've had over the past 20+ years, but sidelining an organization with decades of experience to empower an as yet unconstituted body is frankly shocking. #BillC34
The government is building a full super-digital regulator in Canada. On top of the online harms and social media powers in Bill C-34, Bill C-36 hands the same Commission responsibility for private sector privacy. The power vested in this single body is unprecedented in Canada.
A modernized privacy law should be something that gets broad support, but I think the creation of this new super-regulator that reports to the government and not parliament may be this bill's undoing. #BillC36
Well, I guess the Digital Safety Commission will not have to consult with the Privacy Commissioner about privacy protective age verification, since that role is being subsumed by the Digital Safety Commission itself. #BillC34
