Security measures threaten privacy, Canadians fear
Carly WeeksCanWest News Thursday October 18, 2007
OTTAWA -- A growing number of Canadians fear their personal information is at risk due to increasingly pervasive technology and data exchanges with foreign countries in the name of national security, charges new research released Wednesday by the federal privacy commissioner.
The federal government is responsible for eroding many of the rights Canadians have to privacy as a result of increased surveillance combined with insufficient oversight, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in her annual report to Parliament on the Privacy Act.
"In today's surveillance society, people expect strong privacy laws and want their federal government to take their responsibility extremely seriously," Stoddart said in her report. "We need an overarching framework on how the government collects, uses, discloses and protects personal information."
She is urging the federal government to overhaul the Privacy Act, which controls how the public sector handles personal information, in order to limit the government's ability to collect and share vast amounts of personal information without justification or proper oversight.
For instance, while the private sector is limited in the information it can collect and must tell individuals how and why their data is used, government departments don't have to adhere to the same requirement.
Stoddart highlighted several key areas where government-handled information is at risk in today's society and must be addressed:
-- Personal information of Canadians is being shared with foreign countries on an increasing basis and creates growing streams of data that could have serious consequences for the privacy of Canadians in the event of a data breach.
-- Travel-related security programs mean that an increasing amount of personal information is being shared with a growing number of agencies, which could undermine the privacy of individuals.
-- Identity theft and related fraud are extremely costly and devastating to victims. The federal government must develop a significant measures to ensure Canadians remain in control of how their personal information is used and collected.
-- Stoddart singled out the recently-established no-fly list, officially known as the Passenger Protect program, as one of the more worrisome measures that could prove to be more of a privacy risk than a national security benefit.
"The process for putting an individual's name on the list is not transparent and individuals won't have the right to know they are on the list until they try to board an airplane," says the report. "There are serious risks arising from the possible sharing of the list with other governments by Transport Canada. There is also a risk air carriers would share the list with other countries."
Although the government is distinct from private companies that operate in their own interests, experts have argued the public sector must be held to account to ensure it doesn't abuse personal information.
"It's critical that we have a data protection regime in place that protects Canadians from inappropriate data sharing, data matching, and data uses by our governments," said Philippa Lawson, executive director of the Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic.
Stoddart said politicians who have approved new surveillance measures may not have understood the broad and far-reaching implications of those actions in today's technological world.
"Stronger state surveillance powers with little or no oversight, the expansion of integrated data banks, and information sharing across agencies and jurisdictions have all taken their toll on privacy rights," she said in the report.
The report also contained results of an audit that shows that numerous government departments aren't meeting their obligations to ensure that risks to personal information are identified and minimized, such as keeping tabs on where personal information is sent after it is collected.
The commission received a total of 839 complaints about government agencies in the 2007 fiscal year on a range of issues such as access to personal information to timely responses to requests.
In addition to the annual report, the commission also released results of a survey which show 70% of Canadians feel their personal information is more vulnerable today than it was a decade ago.
Less than 20% said government and businesses take the protection of personal information seriously enough.
A total of 2,001 Canadians were questioned in the survey, which was conducted by Ekos Research Associates earlier this year. The poll is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
Carly WeeksCanWest News Thursday October 18, 2007
OTTAWA -- A growing number of Canadians fear their personal information is at risk due to increasingly pervasive technology and data exchanges with foreign countries in the name of national security, charges new research released Wednesday by the federal privacy commissioner.
The federal government is responsible for eroding many of the rights Canadians have to privacy as a result of increased surveillance combined with insufficient oversight, Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in her annual report to Parliament on the Privacy Act.
"In today's surveillance society, people expect strong privacy laws and want their federal government to take their responsibility extremely seriously," Stoddart said in her report. "We need an overarching framework on how the government collects, uses, discloses and protects personal information."
She is urging the federal government to overhaul the Privacy Act, which controls how the public sector handles personal information, in order to limit the government's ability to collect and share vast amounts of personal information without justification or proper oversight.
For instance, while the private sector is limited in the information it can collect and must tell individuals how and why their data is used, government departments don't have to adhere to the same requirement.
Stoddart highlighted several key areas where government-handled information is at risk in today's society and must be addressed:
-- Personal information of Canadians is being shared with foreign countries on an increasing basis and creates growing streams of data that could have serious consequences for the privacy of Canadians in the event of a data breach.
-- Travel-related security programs mean that an increasing amount of personal information is being shared with a growing number of agencies, which could undermine the privacy of individuals.
-- Identity theft and related fraud are extremely costly and devastating to victims. The federal government must develop a significant measures to ensure Canadians remain in control of how their personal information is used and collected.
-- Stoddart singled out the recently-established no-fly list, officially known as the Passenger Protect program, as one of the more worrisome measures that could prove to be more of a privacy risk than a national security benefit.
"The process for putting an individual's name on the list is not transparent and individuals won't have the right to know they are on the list until they try to board an airplane," says the report. "There are serious risks arising from the possible sharing of the list with other governments by Transport Canada. There is also a risk air carriers would share the list with other countries."
Although the government is distinct from private companies that operate in their own interests, experts have argued the public sector must be held to account to ensure it doesn't abuse personal information.
"It's critical that we have a data protection regime in place that protects Canadians from inappropriate data sharing, data matching, and data uses by our governments," said Philippa Lawson, executive director of the Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic.
Stoddart said politicians who have approved new surveillance measures may not have understood the broad and far-reaching implications of those actions in today's technological world.
"Stronger state surveillance powers with little or no oversight, the expansion of integrated data banks, and information sharing across agencies and jurisdictions have all taken their toll on privacy rights," she said in the report.
The report also contained results of an audit that shows that numerous government departments aren't meeting their obligations to ensure that risks to personal information are identified and minimized, such as keeping tabs on where personal information is sent after it is collected.
The commission received a total of 839 complaints about government agencies in the 2007 fiscal year on a range of issues such as access to personal information to timely responses to requests.
In addition to the annual report, the commission also released results of a survey which show 70% of Canadians feel their personal information is more vulnerable today than it was a decade ago.
Less than 20% said government and businesses take the protection of personal information seriously enough.
A total of 2,001 Canadians were questioned in the survey, which was conducted by Ekos Research Associates earlier this year. The poll is considered accurate to within plus or minus 2.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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