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By rdnewsNOW Staff

OFFICE OF THE INFORMATION AND PRIVACY COMMISSIONER

Stakeholder Engagement Plan announced for Innovative Technology Development Sector

Jan 25, 2024 | 4:59 PM

The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC) of Alberta is announcing its plan to engage the innovative technology development sector in the province.

Officials say the OIPC’s new stakeholder engagement plan for this sector acknowledges there is a need to enable innovation while preserving privacy and access rights. The plan is intended to work to build alliances, understand and improve privacy protection within innovative technologies, and contribute to making legislation and regulatory practices appropriate for the current and future waves of innovation.

“As noted in my recently released annual report and business plan, innovative information and communications technologies are becoming increasingly important in the development of Alberta’s economy and the delivery of services, including in the public and health sectors,” said Information and Privacy Commissioner (IPC) Diane McLeod. “One of my key goals over the next several years will be to support a broad range of private and public sector stakeholders to develop and implement innovative technology while ensuring the privacy and access rights of Albertans are adequately protected. This week, which is international Data Privacy Week, highlights the impact of technology on privacy rights and underlines the importance of protecting personal information. This is an excellent time to begin sharing our engagement plans with Albertans.”

Under this stakeholder engagement plan, officials say the OIPC will identify key players in the innovative technology development sector, meet with key organizations to build and transfer knowledge, work with these organizations to assess privacy risks when they develop or deploy high risk systems, and support the development of controls in the design of innovative technology to reduce these privacy risks.

“Under this plan, my office will work with organisations that play an important role in networks of innovative technology development, namely those that develop or operate such technology, and those that provide funding, resources, expertise, information or other inputs to start-ups, small or medium enterprises in the innovative technology development industry,” added McLeod. “These organizations can help us reach out to businesses creating the technologies that Albertans will interact with in the coming years. They can also assist us in formulating recommendations for the development of a privacy law ecosystem across the public, health and private sectors that will make it easier for businesses in all sectors to navigate privacy laws while growing the digital economy in Alberta.”

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More information on the OIPC Stakeholder Engagement Plan – Innovative Technology Development Sector can be found on the OIPC website here.

Through the OIPC, the Commissioner performs the responsibilities set out in Alberta’s three access to information and privacy laws, the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIP Act), the Health Information Act (HIA) and the Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA). The Commissioner operates independent of government.

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