Alberta government launches survey aiming to update provincial privacy act

A public survey launched on Monday calls on Albertans to help the government “modernize” the province’s privacy act, months after a judge found parts of it unconstitutional.

The Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA), Alberta’s private sector privacy law, launched in 2004 and hasn’t been updated since 2010. It governs how provincially regulated organizations “collect, use, and disclose personal information.”

The survey, which runs until Feb. 16, is part of a public consultation process that lasts until May 1. There is also a separate survey for PIPA stakeholders.

The province says updates will aim to strengthen privacy rights, align with global standards, and “support innovation” while ensuring personal information is respected and protected.

Questions revolve around the user experience, the rights of individuals, protections and safeguards, the scope of the current act, understanding of privacy laws, and how private organizations protect.

It also asks about de-indexing and how AI uses private information, and how private companies use de-identified and anonymized data.

This comes after a judge reviewed a Canadian Radio-television Commission (CRTC) order in May 2025, which asked Clearview AI to stop operating in the country and delete images collected without consent.

Colin Feasby said the order stands, but parts of Alberta’s PIPA legislation are unconstitutional. He added that the act doesn’t properly address privacy considerations on the internet, and its restrictions for requiring consent are too broad.

Clearview AI argued that Alberta’s privacy commissioner misinterpreted what “publicly available” meant under that act, as the legislation permits entities to collect personal information without consent from publicly available sources.

Instead, Alberta’s rules say publicly available personal information includes that which is “contained in a publication, including, but not limited to, a magazine, book, or newspaper, whether in printed or electronic form.”

At the time, Minister Nate Glubish said the act was “badly out of date,” adding that a review was confirmed that would provide recommendations.

Clearview AI scrapes the internet and social media for images of people and adds them to a database for a facial recognition tool marketed to law enforcement.

The company argued its software prevented it from deleting images because it’s not clear which images were collected from and taken in Alberta. But the judge found that wasn’t a valid reason.

More information about the act and the consultation process can be found on the Alberta website.

With files from Jack Ferrell, The Canadian Press