The federal Liberals introduced privacy legislation Thursday to give Canadians more control over their personal data, impose fines for non-compliant digital platforms and introduce new rules for the use of artificial intelligence. The bill, presented by Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne, aims to fulfil his mandate to advance the federal digital charter, strengthen privacy protections for consumers and provide clear rules for fair competition in the online marketplace. Bill C-27, or the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022, revives some aspects of a previous bill, introduced by the Liberals in late 2020, that did not become law. Under the umbrella of the bill, a new Consumer Privacy Protection Act would aim to increase Canadians' control over their personal information and how it is handled by digital platforms. It would limit the information companies can collect on minors, and give Canadians the ability to request that digital platforms permanently delete their data.

The federal Liberals introduced privacy legislation Thursday to give Canadians more control over their personal data, impose fines for non-compliant digital platforms and introduce new rules for the use of artificial intelligence. The bill, presented by Innovation Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne, aims to fulfil his mandate to advance the federal digital charter, strengthen privacy protections for consumers and provide clear rules for fair competition in the online marketplace. Bill C-27, or the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022, revives some aspects of a previous bill, introduced by the Liberals in late 2020, that did not become law. Under the umbrella of the bill, a new Consumer Privacy Protection Act would aim to increase Canadians' control over their personal information and how it is handled by digital platforms. It would limit the information companies can collect on minors, and give Canadians the ability to request that digital platforms permanently delete their data.

Like Google and Amazon before it, Apple has been caught sending voice assistant recordings to contractors, who listen to snippets of your requests and conversations, without telling anyone. In response to the privacy concerns that raises, Apple says it will eventually give users control over whether their Siri data gets sent to third-party eavesdroppers, but it's unclear whether that consent will be opt-in or opt-out. Letting people opt out of data collection is better than not giving them any choice at all. But for decades, that's been the extent of the conversation. It gives too many giant tech companies plausible deniability for the rampant hoovering of your personal information, and allows them to implicitly blame the victim when they overreach: Don't get angry at us, you could have opted out this whole time.

In December, Microsoft President Brad Smith urged lawmakers to set rules on facial-recognition technology to prevent a privacy-threatening "race to the bottom." Now the company has joined a legislative fight in its home state against rules it says would be too restrictive. Microsoft is pushing back on a bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of Washington state lawmakers that would ban local and state governments from using facial recognition until certain conditions are met, including a report by the state attorney general certifying that systems in use are equally accurate for people of differing races, skin tones, ethnicities, genders, or age. Microsoft has endorsed a different bipartisan privacy bill, modeled on European data laws. It contains less restrictive facial-recognition rules, which closely mirror Smith's proposals from December.

In December, Microsoft President Brad Smith urged lawmakers to set rules on facial-recognition technology to prevent a privacy-threatening "race to the bottom." Now the company has joined a legislative fight in its home state against rules it says would be too restrictive. Microsoft is pushing back on a bill sponsored by a bipartisan group of Washington state lawmakers that would ban local and state government from using facial recognition until certain conditions are met, including a report by the state attorney general certifying that systems in use are equally accurate for people of differing races, skin tones, ethnicities, genders, or age. Microsoft has endorsed a different bipartisan privacy bill, modeled on European data laws. It contains less restrictive facial recognition rules, which closely mirror Smith's proposals from December.