The office of Canada’s privacy commissioner (OPC) has announced it will fund research into privacy risks related to public Wi-Fi hotspots through its 2018 to 2019 contributions program.
The project will assess privacy policies, measure personal information leakage to hotspot operators, and identify issues such as potential attack opportunities for malicious users. Research and analysis from the report will culminate in a public hotspot privacy report card and presentation of recommendations.
Eight other projects will receive funding, as well. Among them is a project that examines the potential privacy impact for children when parents share their personal information on social networks. There are also studies on the privacy implications of smart cities in Canada, as well as children’s smart toys.
Funding for the projects ranges from $21,155 to $74,110 CAD.
The OPC launched its contributions program in 2004 to support non-profit research on privacy. Since then, the program has provided approximately $6 million to 137 initiatives.
This article was originally published on MobileSyrup.
