News release

OPC funds research projects related to children’s privacy, and the impact of technology on privacy

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August 30, 2024

Privacy Commissioner of Canada Philippe Dufresne today announced the research projects that will be funded under the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC)’s 2024-2025 Contributions Program.

The selected research projects will explore issues such as deceptive designs that coerce, steer, or manipulate users’ privacy decisions in immersive virtual reality environments, as well as the privacy perspectives of young users in the context of artificial intelligence (AI).

OPC funded projects for 2024-2025 also include:

• an examination of the ecosystem of social logins (where users are able to log in or sign up for websites using existing social media credentials, such as Facebook or Google);
• an evaluation of federal private sector privacy legislation in Canada for fitness to govern the use of emotional AI with children;
• an analysis of the terms and conditions of mobile gaming applications to assess protections for children and to identify best practices; and
• a project to benchmark large language models, explore associated privacy challenges and the role of privacy enhancing technologies to better understand the limitations and capabilities of this emerging and rapidly evolving technology.

To read more about the projects, please see Contributions Program projects underway.

“A focus on projects that will further explore issues relates to children’s privacy and the privacy impacts of new technologies aligns with my strategic priorities,” said Commissioner Dufresne. “These are areas that affect most Canadians, and also where the greatest risks lie if these issues are not addressed.”

Contributions Program proposals were submitted from organizations and individuals across the country, as well as from the United States and the United Kingdom. This year, the maximum funding available to each project was increased from $50,000 to $100,000, with a maximum contribution payable to any single organization of $200,000.

The OPC Contributions Program funds independent privacy research and initiatives that generate new ideas, approaches, and knowledge to help organizations better safeguard personal information and help Canadians make more informed decisions about how to protect their privacy.