• Series: Bringing Privacy Regulation into an AI World

    Over the past decade, privacy has become an increasing concern for the public as data analytics have expanded exponentially in scope. Big data has become a part of our everyday lives in ways that most people are not fully aware of and don’t understand.


  • Is AI Compatible with Privacy Principles?

    Bringing Privacy Regulation into an AI World, Part 2 Many experts on privacy and artificial intelligence (AI) have questioned whether AI technologies such as machine learning, predictive analytics, and deep learning are compatible with basic privacy principles.


  • A 3D Test for Evaluating COVID Alert: Canada’s Official Coronavirus App

    Great news – Canada has just released its free COVID-19 exposure notification app [1], COVID Alert. Several questions now arise: Is it private and secure? Will it be widely adopted? And how effective will it be at slowing the spread of the virus? We have evaluated the COVID alert app against three dimensions: Concept, Implementation, […]


  • Outbreak Notification App Design

    From Contact Tracing to Outbreak Notification Call for Participation This post is a call for participation for design thinkers – please email or tweet @drwhassan. As countries assess how best to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, many have introduced smartphone apps to help identify which users have been infected. These apps vary from country to […]


  • Police use of AI-based facial recognition – Privacy threats and opportunities !!

    This article describes the issue of Police use of AI-based facial recognition technology, discusses why it poses a problem, describes the methodology of assessment, and proposes a solution  The CBC reported on March 3[1]  that the federal privacy watchdog in Canada and three of its provincial counterparts will jointly investigate police use of facial-recognition technology […]


  • Best-Practice Data Transfers for Canadian Companies – III – Vendor Contracts

    PREPARING FOR DATA TRANSFER – CLAUSES FOR VENDOR CONTRACTS A three-part series from KI Design: Part I: Data Outsourcing Part II: Cross-border Data Transfers The following guidelines are best-practice recommendations for ensuring that transferred data is processed in compliance with standard regulatory privacy laws. While a contract creates legal obligations for a Vendor, your company must still […]


  • Best-Practice Data Transfers for Canadian Companies – Part II

    CROSS-BORDER DATA TRANSFERS A three-part series from KI Design:  Part I: Data Outsourcing ,  Part III: Preparing for Data Transfer – Clauses for Vendor Contracts When personal information (PI) is moved across federal or provincial boundaries in the course of commercial activity, it’s considered a cross-border data transfer. Transferring data brings risk. As well as increasing […]


  • Best-Practice Data Transfers for Canadian Companies – I – Outsourcing

    DATA OUTSOURCING In our digitally interconnected world, most organizations that handle personal information will transfer it to a third party at some stage of the data life cycle. Your company may send personal information (PI) to an external service provider such as PayPal to process customer payments – that’s a data transfer. Perhaps you hired […]


  • Privacy in Design: A Practical Guide to Corporate Compliance

    A series of articles offering a sneak peek into my e-book, Privacy in Design: A Practical Guide to Corporate Compliance.


  • Urban Data Responsibility – The Battle for Toronto

    The initial excitement over Alphabet’s Smartcity may be dwindling out of the perception that the tech giant will use the new development in the Harbourfront to collect personal data. The special attention given by interest groups to a project that actually has engaged the public and shown good faith may be giving companies the wrong lesson: Don’t engage […]


  • Are Malls “Grasping at Straws”?

    Cadillac Fairview is tracking the public by using facial recognition technology !! The news of privacy commissioners of Canada and Alberta launching an investigation into facial recognition technology used at Cadillac Fairview, did not come as a surprise to many. The investigation was initiated by Commissioner Daniel Therrien in the wake of numerous media reports that […]


  • Parliament Responds to the Standing Committee’s Report on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics

    The Honourable Navdeep Bains, P.C., M.P. extends his gratitude for report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics titled, Privacy by Design: Review of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. His response encompasses the following summary. He shows his appreciation for the OPC and other witnesses that supported this study and […]