Kris Klein

Kris, CIPP/C, CIPM and FIP,  has more than two decades of public and private sector experience in the federal regulatory arena in Canada, and is one of Canada’s leading legal experts on privacy, access to information and information security issues.

Kris has litigated and counseled extensively on federal regulatory law with a pre-eminent national firm, and for the Canada’s Department of Justice, including providing instrumental legal advice to Canada’s Privy Council Office. He has also practiced exclusively in the area of privacy law, advising the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. In that role Kris advised the Privacy Commissioner and senior officials on legal, policy and strategic issues, including on the handling of high-profile and sensitive cases. He negotiated and settled complaints with private sector organizations facing scrutiny over privacy compliance issues. Kris also represented the Commissioner and her office publicly before Parliamentary committees, as a conference speaker, and before the media.

Kris has a demonstrated understanding of technology, theories of anonymity (de-identification of data), authentication systems, health privacy issues, etc., and their relationship to Canadian laws and enforcement practices.

Kris has written extensively, including co-authoring several instrumental works.

Involvements

Kris speaks and writes regularly on privacy, access and information management and security issues.

Kris is the Managing Director of IAPP Canada, teaches the Privacy Law course at the University of Ottawa Faculty Law School, and continues to provide countless in-house training sessions to corporations and government departments.
 

Kris is the author of several leading pieces dealing with privacy law, including:

Canadian Privacy: Data Protection Law and Policy for the Practitioner
Canadian Privacy is a valuable reference for corporate privacy officers and any other professional who is responsible for the legal compliance, risk management, information security or information auditing needs of corporate organizations based in Canada or subject to Canadian jurisdiction. This work is the official reference for the CIPP/C credentialing program administered by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (the IAPP)

The Klein & Kratchanov Report: The Canadian Source for Legal Developments in Privacy and Access
The Klein & Kratchanov Report synthesizes access and privacy legal developments in a pithy, clear, no-nonsense manner. In a concise, ten-minute brief sent in print and electronically, the reader is kept abreast of key access to information and privacy issues, the latest case law, and a view as to what these changes mean for the practitioner. The authors provide the most pertinent information — highly selective updates on federal and provincial privacy commissioner decisions, federal and provincial court decisions, key legislative developments and other breaking issues.

The Law of Privacy in Canada
This authoritative looseleaf-style legal work is a comprehensive treatment of the regulation of the collection and use of personal information in Canada. It is the only publication that includes everything most lawyers and business professionals need to know about privacy, from privacy protection to public surveillance to the legislative texts. The work focuses on the domestic regulatory scene, but also includes information about developments in the regulation of the collection and use of personal information in the European Union and the United States. Important areas of coverage include Technology and Privacy; Challenges and Solutions; Privacy Protection Under the Criminal Law; Privacy Protection in the Civil Context; Workplace Privacy; Health Privacy; Public Sector Regulation; Private Sector Regulation; and International Privacy Issues.

Privacy in Employment: Control of Personal Information in the Workplace
As a practical guide to privacy issues in the Canadian workplace, this publication examines all aspects of an employer’s acquisition, retention and dissemination of information about employees, while considering the competing interests at play in the employment relationship. It offers guidance to employers in establishing privacy-related policies and practices and serves as a valuable resource for employees who wish to be educated about acceptable employer practices.

A Complete Guide to e-Marketing under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation
This guide offers comprehensive guidance in complying with the new rules surrounding email and other types of electronic messaging, and is a must-have publication for businesses that engage in electronic marketing and for those who advise them. Written in a concise and accessible style, the book covers the purposes of the legislation, the requirements set out under the Act for sending commercial electronic messages, enforcement, penalties, defences, practical tips for compliance, and much more.

Government Information: The Right to Information and the Protection of Privacy in Canada
This is the only publication of its kind dealing exclusively with access to information and privacy of personal information in the public sector in Canada. Government Information sets out practice and procedure and answers questions such as: Who may request access to government information? How should a request for access be made? What records are and are not accessible and why? How does one obtain his or her personal information from government? What third party information is available and what rights exist to access it? How are access disputes resolved? What are the rules surrounding collection, use and destruction of personal information? Government Information canvasses both the federal and provincial laws in this regard. Furthermore, the text incorporates how privacy laws interact with the right of access and it provides a look into how these laws attempt to protect personal information in the public sector. The text contains the full text of all relevant federal and provincial statutes, tables of Concordance of Statutes for easy reference, and analysis of access and privacy issues relating to municipal information. This work is a “must have” for anyone who has occasion to bring or respond to a request for access to government information or who must deal with privacy concerns in relation to personal information collected or generated by a government institution.