The privacy commissioner will have better law patterns from March of 2020. During the last pre-conference of 2019, Justin Trudeau admitted that the privacy commissioner is very important to the country's development. Without privacy, all kinds of achievements lose momentum and trust.
Justin Trudeau sent the Mandate letter to Minister of Innovation – Navdeep Bains. Trudeau wants to make 2020 focused on privacy issues in the country. It's interesting to see the changes regarding Facebook and other social networks that have serious privacy issues throughout the years. Navdeep Bains decided to take the privacy rules onto another level. Privacy commissioners will have enhanced power, and it's mostly related to giant digital companies that could be storing the information.
There was a significant movement related to face-recognition systems. Online companies started using the recognition system to prevent account stealing and identity theft. From the start of 2018, countries like France, China, the US, UK, and Canada have started using various technologies to help against such cases.
Canadian companies have been implementing recognition systems in the early stages of 2019. Digital start-ups and online gaming websites are using the same technology for better online space. There have been many cases of identity theft, so digital companies in the country decided to use face recognition systems.
In 2019, most of the digital companies (including the online gaming industry, video game developers, and digital start-ups) have implemented a smart algorithm to recognize faces. When the face is recognized, funds and transactions of the company's website are free to use.
Online casinos in Canada were the first to react to new technologies appropriately. Most of the gambling platforms started using face recognition systems. Millions of Canadians manage and send funds through online casinos, and there have been cases of identity theft. Digital casinos were in need of a smart system to prevent such cases. It's understandable, as digital gambling applications and websites have most visitors. That means more interest and a high percentage of potential cases related to identity theft. Since 2019, there have been very few cases on the most popular gambling websites in Canada. Along with online casinos, video gaming developers have also implemented new technologies for making the online space safe.
The privacy commissioner of Canada will have enhanced authority when it comes to privacy cases against digital companies. Just like Trudeau, the privacy commissioner believes that privacy is a fundamental principle on which digital Canada should be built.
Facial recognition technologies are safe for internet users; it depends on each company. Case by case, it seems that some of the companies or even governments (police, prosecutor, etc.) may use the data differently. Canada has an apparent and clear message to all the digital companies who store personal information about Canadian internet users.
By the end of 2019, UK courts had many cases related to facial recognition technologies. British police were using the same facial recognition technologies to do investigations. Unfortunately, there have been cases in the UK when police have used data stored without permission.
Metropolitan Police would be first to use controversial facial recognition technologies legally and on a large scale. From January of 2020, Metropolitan police are using exact same face technologies to make investigation easier. The assistant commissioner of MET police said that CCTV systems are not useful anymore.
There is a different approach in Canada as the country's government is not going to let facial scans leave the digital space. Yet, the privacy commissioner will have significant support from Justin Trudeau, and there may be many cases investigated under enhanced power.