On June 5, 2024, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC) announced that it had published its 2023 annual report, in which it called for the strengthening and enhancing of access and privacy protections.

What are some of the key findings in the report?

Aside from providing a summary of the IPC's major activities in 2023, the report also highlights some findings and recommendations, including:

• implementing a strong and consistent privacy regime with equivalent protections across all regulated sectors in Ontario, including enhanced transparency and accountability requirements, robust security safeguards, and mandatory breach reporting to the IPC;
• ensuring a strong legislative framework governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to ensure they are used in ways that respect privacy rights and prevent algorithmic bias and discrimination;
• protecting and empowering children and youth to safeguard their personal information online and building privacy protections and digital literacy into Ontario's education curriculum; and
• engaging in the development of Bill 194 for an Act to enact the Enhancing Digital Security and Trust Act, 2024, which aims to modernize access and privacy laws in Ontario and promote cybersecurity, AI, and online children's safety.

What are some key challenges identified in the report?

Furthermore, the report revealed some trends and challenges identified by the IPC in the past year including:

• an increase in the unauthorized access to personal information by employees or other insiders with a 34% increase in snooping cases across all sectors;
• a 14% increase in freedom of information (FOI) requests from 2022; and
• a 10% increase in health privacy breaches due to unauthorized disclosures from misdirected faxes from 2022.

You can read the IPC's 2023 annual report here.