Now what was I saying about regulating platforms if they refused to ask responsibly and to protect our privacy appropriately? An OpEd in today’s Lethrbridge Herald begins:
When it comes to holding social media giants like Facebook to account, Canada’s privacy laws are a bad joke.
The federal privacy commissioner, Daniel Therrien, admitted as much last week. He and his counterpart in British Columbia, Michael McEvoy, issued a stern rebuke to Facebook for violating the privacy of about 620,000 Canadians – and then pretty much acknowledged that they’re impotent to do anything about it.
Facebook refuses to accept it did anything wrong when it let a third-party app harvest Canadians’ personal information, exposing it to potential misuse by Cambridge Analytica, the consulting company at the centre of attempts to influence political campaigns in Britain and the United States.
Facebook rejects the commissioners’ recommendations on fixing the problem. It even disputes that they have jurisdiction over its activities. It’s basically telling them to pound sand.
Read it all on Lethbridge Herald.