"We fight for that" – PIAC’s podcast launched!

OTTAWA, 11 September 2020: “We fight for that” – the new podcast from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), launches today. This first episode includes an introduction to PIAC, asking and answering why you, as a Canadian consumer, keep asking “Am I Going Crazy?” when you have a problem with your purchases and subscriptions; and a detailed explanation of PIAC’s COVID Alert app CRTC Application, that seeks to limit government access to any personal information from contact-tracing in Canada.
The podcast is available on all major podcast providers.  Please find our main podcast page at this link.
We hope you enjoy listening!

Episode 1 Notes

“We fight for that” – is the new podcast from the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) focussing on consumer protection in Canada.  This first episode includes an introduction to PIAC, asking and answering why you, as a Canadian consumer, keep asking “Am I Going Crazy?” when you have a problem with your purchases and subscriptions; and a detailed explanation of PIAC’s COVID Alert app CRTC Application, that seeks to limit government access to any personal information from contact-tracing in Canada.  Our last segment, which we hope will be fun, is “I told you so!” – where we call out government, regulators, the industry or even ourselves, when someone should have known better (and we already told them so).  This week: the freight-train wreck that is the CRTC and wireless companies’ efforts to stamp out “SIM-swap fraud” in cellphone number porting.  Why not just hold a public hearing where real consumers could help make sure the process of changing from one cellphone to another is easy and quick, but also that fraudsters cannot pretend to be you, take over your phone account, and steal your money? Why take the very people – consumers – out of the debate over the security of their most important device, their cellphone? C’mon CRTC – hold a public hearing – it’s not just PIAC but also a Parliamentary Committee that wants one.

Direct download link.

PIAC files new CRTC Application regarding COVID Alert, Alberta apps

OTTAWA – 9 September 2020 – The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) today filed with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) an Application requesting CRTC oversight of potential linkages between IP addresses generated by use of Health Canada’s “COVID Alert” app (as well as similar uses of IP addresses and additionally, mobile phone numbers, by the “ABTraceTogether” app in Alberta) and telecommunications subscriber information.
The Application requests that the CRTC ensure that all Canadian cellphone and Internet companies’  involvement in potential or actual linkages of information from contact-tracing apps to confidential telecommunications information held by cellphone and Internet companies for public health purposes is done in accordance with privacy requirements of Canada’s telecommunications law.
PIAC Executive Director John Lawford stated: “Now we know how COVID Alert and ABTraceTogether work, PIAC sees a potential personal information “leak” if the government uses info from the apps to ask cellphone companies for more information on users. The CRTC must set out rules limiting any such access requests by the government to protect Canadians’ privacy.”
A previous Application was filed by PIAC with the CRTC requesting oversight of pandemic “contact-tracing” apps and network services that may be offered for Canadians to download to their smartphones on 4 April 2020 but was suspended by the CRTC).
Lawford noted that consumers who are concerned about government access can take the practical step of using a virtual private network app while operating the COVID Alert and ABTraceTogether apps: “Using a VPN on your phone will allow Canadians to use these apps worry-free and still help combat COVID-19. But what really would help Canadians trust these apps are clear legal rules to limit any possible government access to personal information.”
For more information, please contact:
John Lawford
Executive Director/General Counsel
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
285 McLeod Street – Suite 200
Ottawa, ON  K2P 1A1
613-562-4002 x 25
Fax 562-0007
Cell: 613-447-8125
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