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26th January 2012

Symposium Brings Together Thought Leaders For International Privacy Day

Ontario-IPCDr. Ann Cavoukian, Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, is holding a public Symposium, Beware of Surveillance by Design: Standing Up for Freedom and Privacy, to raise awareness of the serious privacy implications of online surveillance and proposed federal “lawful access” legislation.

If passed in their original form, this legislation would provide police with much greater ability to access and track information about identifiable individuals via the communications technologies that we use every day, such as the Internet, smart phones, and other mobile devices, at times, without a warrant or any judicial authorization.

“This represents a looming system of “Surveillance by Design,” that should concern us all in a free and democratic society, which is why I have organized a public Symposium — to increase awareness, in an effort to improve the legislation before it is re-introduced,” said Commissioner Cavoukian.

“By proactively embedding the principles of Privacy by Design (PbD) into the development of new technologies, PbD can accommodate legitimate business interests in a “positive sum,” win-win manner. We must get rid of the mindset that privacy must be sacrificed for the sake of other interests — it does not.”

“We can, and must, have both privacy and security. Give me RealPrivacy NOT privacy theatre.”

Symposium Presenters include:

“Bringing together this highly respected panel of thought leaders to share their perspectives on this legislation and “Surveillance by Design” is an ideal way to commemorate International Privacy Day, marking 31 years since the first binding international convention of privacy came into force,” said Commissioner Cavoukian.

The Symposium will take place on January 27th at MaRS Discovery District, MaRS Centre South tower, Suite 100 (Auditorium – Lower Level), 101 College Street in Toronto. Presentations begin at 9:00 a.m. and will run until 11:00 a.m. Members of the public are welcome to attend this event. Pre-registration is requested. For those wishing to attend virtually, this event will be webcast live and fully archived.

You are also invited to visit the recently-launched website for more event details, as well as information regarding concerns about “lawful access” legislation and positive solutions to address them. You will also find the agency’s Write My MP tool, where citizens can easily write their Member of Parliament and urge the government to reconsider the proposed laws.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 8:09 am and is filed under Events, Government, National News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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