p2p news / p2pnet: Many Canadians don’t know about their rights to access information, including their own personal data, from governments and private companies, says the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC).

To help correct that, CIPPIC executive director Philippa Lawson has been working with a tam of students who researched access to information laws across Canada, the end product being a manual written for people who aren’t legally trained, but who still want to exercise their legal rights.

It fills a gap in public education on issues of government accountability and privacy rights, says Lawson.

"While many of the agencies responsible for access to information and privacy across Canada provide guides and Q&As on their websites, these are generally incomplete," she says. "And the legal manuals designed for professional lawyers provide more detail than the average user needs."

On the Identity Trail is a multidisciplinary research project led by University of Ottawa law professor Ian Kerr and funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s "Initiatives on the New Economy" program.

"This multi-sectoral initiative provides a powerful tool for citizens and illustrates perfectly the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s vision of interactive partnerships between universities, industry, governmental and non-governmental organizations," he says.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 31st, 2006 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. 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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