Commissioner’s Blog | Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

La commissaire à l'information et à la protection de la vie privée, Patricia Kosseim, pose pour une photo sur un pont, avec des arbres en arrière-plan.

Commissioner’s Blog

Dive into Commissioner Kosseim’s insightful blogs covering privacy, access, cyber safety, and beyond. Stay informed and explore the latest insights.

About the Commissioner

Showing 37 - 45 of 246 results

Back to school: Lessons learned about online educational tools and platforms

Last fall, when the COVID-19 pandemic steered students away from schools and into their homes, school boards and schools needed to pivot on a dime and be certain that the online tools and data management systems they adopted kept students’ personal information safe and secure. Following a long...

Published on Sep 9, 2021

Using health data for the public good

From the early months of the pandemic, it became increasingly apparent that using personal health information (PHI) for critical health care, research, and public health purposes, would play a crucial role in helping us understand and control the spread of the deadly coronavirus. The importance of...

Published on Aug 4, 2021

Stamping out snooping once and for all

With the rapid adoption of technology and digitization of health services, protecting patient privacy is more vital than ever to maintain Ontarians’ confidence in their health care system. This is why the IPC selected Trust in Digital Health as one of the key strategic priorities to guide our work...

Published on Jul 14, 2021

From George Orwell to George Floyd: The shift in thinking about police use of body-worn cameras

So much has changed since the mid-2000s when the idea of police wearing body-worn cameras (BWCs) was first contemplated. At that time, there was widespread public outcry, fueled by fears that we were marching ever closer to the fictional surveillance state of George Orwell’s 1984. In recent years...

Published on Jul 7, 2021

A Year like no other: Championing access and privacy in times of uncertainty

Today I was honoured to table my first annual report in the Ontario Legislature. It contains an overview of the significant developments that shaped our efforts in 2020, along with notable activities and initiatives that marked an unprecedented year. If anything, the uncertainty of the past year has...

Published on Jun 24, 2021

Mugshots to megabytes: facial recognition has made privacy protection more urgent than ever

What was once science fiction of the past is now the science reality of today. Once a fanciful idea, facial recognition technologies have arrived, and their use, particularly by law enforcement agencies, raises serious concerns about personal privacy, not to mention other fundamental human rights...

Published on Jun 10, 2021

As in life, the only constant in health care is change

“There is nothing permanent except change.” - Heraclitus These famous words of the Greek philosopher, Heraclitus, have never rung truer than they do today. As with everything else in life, the delivery of health care continues to change and evolve, especially over the last two decades, during which...

Published on May 12, 2021

A vision for the future: Plan the work, work the plan

When I started my five-year mandate as commissioner, I committed to working on access and privacy issues that matter most to Ontarians and on which the IPC can have most positive and significant impact. As part of this commitment, we embarked on a strategic planning exercise to identify the...

Published on Apr 22, 2021

One year and counting… upholding access and privacy from home

Hard to believe a full year has passed since we closed our office doors and began working from home. The significant adjustments made by my team, the high pace of change they have to contend with, and their unwavering commitment to continue serving the people of Ontario, regardless of the...

Published on Mar 24, 2021

Help us improve our website. Was this page helpful?

Yes

No

How did this page help you?

The information is incorrect or needs to be updated.

The information was too hard to understand.

The information wasn’t relevant.

I didn’t find what I was looking for.

Other

Note:

You will not receive a direct reply. For further enquiries, please contact us at @email
Do not include any personal information, such as your name, social insurance number (SIN), home or business address, any case or files numbers or any personal health information.
For more information about this tool, please see our Privacy Policy.