Latest news with #PrivacyImpactAssessment
Global News
2 days ago
- Global News
Ontario police force may be 1st in Canada to use drones for some 911 calls
A police force in one of Canada's most populated regions may soon be deploying drones as first responders for certain 911 calls. Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Anthony Odoardi told Global News in a statement Wednesday the initiative would make them 'one of, if not the first police service in Canada' to use drone technology in that capacity. 'The initiative aims to reduce response times and provide officers with real-time information before they arrive,' Odoardi said. 'While specific call types are still being finalized, drones may be used for in-progress incidents such as break and enters, missing vulnerable persons, or auto thefts.' Odoardi added the force is currently in the 'planning and regulatory review phase' and will eventually begin with a limited pilot. He did not offer a timeline of its implementation, but said the pilot will assess operation value, cost and community impact. Story continues below advertisement 'Privacy protections, including a Privacy Impact Assessment and community consultations, will guide implementation,' he said. 2:20 Glimpse into VPD's drone program Over the last several years, police forces across Canada have been increasingly utilizing drones. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Several police forces, including in Halton Region and Peel, currently utilize drones for search and rescue cases, collision reconstruction, tactical operations and disaster response. In June, an Ontario Provincial Police drone was crucial in finding a three-year-old Quebec girl who was the subject of a frantic four-day search in both provinces. The girl, who was reported missing in Coteau-du-Lac, Que., was spotted four days later by the police drone sitting alone in a ditch along the side of a highway near St. Albert, roughly 100 km from where she was reported missing. Story continues below advertisement Even in Vancouver — where the Vancouver Police Department's (VPD) 20 drones flew 1,826 missions in 2024 — drones have been described as critical to daily policing. 'We answer 700 calls for service a day and these pilots are incredibly busy,' VPD Supt. Don Chapman told Global News in March. One of their drones was key in capturing murder suspect Brendan Colin McBride, accused of killing a man in downtown Vancouver in September 2024 and of slicing off another person's hand. McBride was found on Habitat Island by the police drone. 2:55 Suspect charged in Vancouver stranger attacks Every mission requires a pilot and a spotter, with video streamed back to an operational command centre, the VPD said. But only five per cent of the recordings are preserved, and VPD told Global News those must be connected to a crime. Story continues below advertisement Odoardi reiterated to Global News Peel police's drones won't be used outside of their intended purpose. 'All drone operations will be managed by trained officers through our Aerial Support Unit and Community Safety Operations Centre and will not be used for general surveillance or utilize facial recognition technology,' he said. 'We are committed to advancing technology in our service to better support our communities and equip officers with the tools needed to enhance emergency response efforts.' — with files from Catherine Urquhart
Los Angeles Times
28-07-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
California, other states sue over USDA demand for SNAP recipients' data
California and a coalition of other liberal-led states filed a federal lawsuit Monday challenging the U.S. Department of Agriculture's recent demand that they turn over the personal information of millions of people receiving federal food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. USDA Secretary Brooke L. Rollins informed states earlier this month that they would have to transmit the data to the USDA's Food and Nutrition Service to comply with an executive order by President Trump. That order demanded that Trump's agency appointees receive 'full and prompt access' to all data associated with federal programs, so that they might identify and eliminate 'waste, fraud, and abuse.' Last week, USDA officials informed state SNAP directors that the deadline for submitting the data is Wednesday and that failure to comply 'may trigger noncompliance procedures' — including the withholding of funds. In announcing the states' lawsuit Monday, California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta said the 'unprecedented' demand 'violates all kinds of state and federal privacy laws' and 'further breaks the trust between the federal government and the people it serves.' Bonta's office noted that states have administered the equivalent of SNAP benefits — formerly known as food stamps — for 60 years. It said that California alone receives 'roughly $1 billion a year' to administer the program in the state and that 'any delay in that funding could be catastrophic for the state and its residents who rely on SNAP to put food on the table.' The USDA has demanded data for all current and former SNAP recipients since the start of 2020, including 'all household group members names, dates of birth, social security numbers, residential and mailing addresses,' as well as 'transactional records from each household' that show the dollar amounts they spent and where. It said it may also collect information about people's income. Meanwhile, a Privacy Impact Assessment published by the agency showed that it also is collecting data on people's education, employment, immigration status and citizenship. The USDA and other Trump administration officials have said the initiative will save taxpayers money by eliminating 'information silos' that allow inefficiencies and fraud to fester in federal programs. 'It is imperative that USDA eliminates bureaucratic duplication and inefficiency and enhances the government's ability not only to have point-in-time information but also to detect overpayments and fraud,' Rollins wrote in a July 9 letter to the states. The Trump administration, which is pursuing what Trump has called the biggest mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in the nation's history, has requested sensitive data from other federal programs and services to share it with immigration officials — including Medicaid and the IRS. That has raised alarm among Democrats, who have said that tying such services to immigration enforcement will put people's health at risk and decrease tax revenue. California sued the Trump administration earlier this month for sharing Medicaid data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. On Monday, Bonta raised similar alarms about the administration's demand for SNAP data, questioning what it will do with the information and how families that rely on such assistance will react. His office said it appeared to be 'the next step' in the administration's anti-immigrant campaign. 'President Trump continues to weaponize private and sensitive personal information — not to root out fraud, but to create a culture of fear where people are unwilling to apply for essential services,' Bonta said. 'We're talking about kids not getting school lunch; fire victims not accessing emergency services; and other devastating, and deadly, consequences.' Bonta said the USDA demand for SNAP benefits data is illegal under established law, and that California 'will not comply' while it takes the administration to court. 'The President doesn't get to change the rules in the middle of the game, no matter how much he may want to,' Bonta said. 'While he may be comfortable breaking promises to the American people, California is not.' The new data collection does not follow established processes for the federal government to audit state data without collecting it wholesale. During a recently concluded public comment period, Bonta and other liberal attorneys general submitted a comment arguing that the data demand violates the Privacy Act. 'USDA should rethink this flawed and unlawful proposal and instead work with the States to improve program efficiency and integrity through the robust processes already in place,' they wrote. Last week, California and other states sued the Trump administration over new rules barring undocumented immigrants from accessing more than a dozen other federally funded benefit programs, including Head Start, short-term and emergency shelters, soup kitchens and food banks, healthcare services and adult education programs. The states did not include USDA in that lawsuit despite its issuing a similar notice, writing that 'many USDA programs are subject to an independent statutory requirement to provide certain benefits programs to everyone regardless of citizenship,' which the department's notice said would continue to apply. Bonta announced Monday's lawsuit along with New York Attorney General Letitia James. Joining them in the lawsuit were Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin, as well as the state of Kentucky.
Ottawa Citizen
24-05-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
ESDC to track individual workers' sign-in location to enforce return-to-office rules
Article content The largest department in the core public service will begin producing reports on whether individual employees are signing in from the office beginning in July. Article content Article content The new initiative deepens the data collection and surveillance of employees at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), as the department pushes to meet return-to-office directives. Article content Article content The department was formerly producing aggregate data reports from a 'roll up of all login data,' ESDC spokesperson Maja Stefanovska said in an email. The department will now provide information at an individual employee level. Article content The so-called 'low on-site connectivity reports' will be compiled with employee log-in data, approved leave and employee work arrangement information. The data will also reflect statutory holidays to make sure it doesn't overcount the days employees aren't in the office. Article content Stefanovska said ESDC 'will begin producing a Low Onsite Connectivity Report that will support managers and direct supervisors, including those with large and geographically dispersed teams better understand whether all employees are fully meeting the expectations of ESDC's common hybrid work model policies.' Article content The department defines low-connectivity as an 'individual's low connection to ESDC's network in the office as per their hybrid work arrangement.' Article content Article content Workers inside the department were told of the new reports last week. Data for the July report will be collected from June 2 to June 29. Article content Article content These reports will be sent to supervisors and managers who may follow up with their staff to ask why they fell short of the requirement that they be in the office for three days a week. If the supervisor finds that there is no justification for low onsite connectivity then 'employees may face administrative and/or disciplinary action.' Article content ESDC told the Ottawa Citizen that the department has 'consulted key stakeholders such as they Office of the Privacy Commissioner and completed Privacy Impact Assessment's to ensure that the information gathered respects employee privacy.' Article content Since September 2024, many public servants have been required to work in the office for three days a week. Executives must be in the office for at least four days a week. At the end of that month, only 73 per cent of employees were compliant with the new rules, according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen through an access-to-information request.
Ottawa Citizen
24-05-2025
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
ESDC to track individual workers' sign in location to enforce return-to-office rules
The largest department in the core public service will begin producing reports on whether individual employees are signing in from the office beginning in July. Article content Article content The new initiative deepens the data collection and surveillance of employees at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC), as the department pushes to meet return-to-office directives. Article content Article content The department was formerly producing aggregate data reports from a 'roll up of all login data,' ESDC spokesperson Maja Stefanovska said in an email. The department will now provide information at an individual employee level. Article content The so-called 'low on-site connectivity reports' will be compiled with employee log-in data, approved leave and employee work arrangement information. The data will also reflect statutory holidays to make sure it doesn't overcount the days employees aren't in the office. Article content Stefanovska said ESDC 'will begin producing a Low Onsite Connectivity Report that will support managers and direct supervisors, including those with large and geographically dispersed teams better understand whether all employees are fully meeting the expectations of ESDC's common hybrid work model policies.' Article content The department defines low-connectivity as an 'individual's low connection to ESDC's network in the office as per their hybrid work arrangement.' Article content Article content Workers inside the department were told of the new reports last week. Data for the July report will be collected from June 2 to June 29. Article content Article content These reports will be sent to supervisors and managers who may follow up with their staff to ask why they fell short of the requirement that they be in the office for three days a week. If the supervisor finds that there is no justification for low onsite connectivity then 'employees may face administrative and/or disciplinary action.' Article content ESDC told the Ottawa Citizen that the department has 'consulted key stakeholders such as they Office of the Privacy Commissioner and completed Privacy Impact Assessment's to ensure that the information gathered respects employee privacy.' Article content Since September 2024, many public servants have been required to work in the office for three days a week. Executives must be in the office for at least four days a week. At the end of that month, only 73 per cent of employees were compliant with the new rules, according to documents obtained by the Ottawa Citizen through an access-to-information request.
Fox News
12-04-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Fox News AI Newsletter: White House record-keeping revamp
IN TODAY'S NEWSLETTER: - White House rolls out implementation of AI for federal employee records - 'Wizard of Oz' AI makeover is 'total transformation,' sparking mixed reactions: experts - OpenAI countersues Elon Musk, claiming he 'has tried every tool available to harm' the company HISTORIC EFFICIENCY: Fox News Digital has learned that the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) will post an updated Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) at the close of business Wednesday that paves the way for artificial intelligence to improve government efficiency and enhance the federal record-keeping process. NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE: The use of artifical intelligence to reimagine the classic film "The Wizard of Oz" will likely see mixed reactions from fans, experts told Fox News Digital. BAD-FAITH TACTICS: OpenAI escalated its legal battle with Elon Musk by countersuing the Tesla and xAI CEO, claiming in a lawsuit he "has tried every tool available to harm" the company. OBJECTION: An artificial intelligence-generated avatar was the source of contempt inside a New York courtroom after judges quickly realized the attorney arguing a case in front of them was not real. FOLLOW FOX NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIA FacebookInstagramYouTubeTwitterLinkedIn SIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERS Fox News FirstFox News OpinionFox News LifestyleFox News Health DOWNLOAD OUR APPS Fox NewsFox BusinessFox WeatherFox SportsTubi WATCH FOX NEWS ONLINE STREAM FOX NATION Stay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here.
