Privacy concerns continue
David Canton - for the London Free Press - August 5, 2006 Read this on Canoe
Ontario information and privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian's annual report highlights eight key issues.
They include the need for more transparent government, the secure destruction of personal information and a fair expungement process of police records for individuals found innocent after being charged with a crime.
The report also reviews the impact of the Personal Health Information Protection Act (PHIPA) in its first year.
Cavoukian also administers the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA) and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.
Perhaps the most blatant abuse of personal health information was reported early in 2005 when Cavoukian received a phone call that personal health records had been strewn across several streets in downtown Toronto as the backdrop for a film shoot.
The producer simply wanted scrap paper to transform the streets into a set resembling the 9-11 New York catastrophe. Unfortunately, the papers he obtained were personal health records, which were supposed to have been destroyed.
As a result, Cavoukian issued the first order under PHIPA, stressing the importance of secure disposal of personal health information record, to render them unreadable and non-reconstructable.
The IPC recommends physical destruction of media such as paper or CDs. Simple strip shredding or scratching and throwing a CD in the trash is not enough.
Care must be taken when memory media are reused, as deleting does not erase the information.
IPC efforts to promote government openness gained momentum in July 2005 when Cavoukian ordered the City of Toronto to disclose to CBC Radio-Canada all records regarding civil lawsuits the city had settled with third parties from 1998 to 2004.
The city had resisted requests for the information, fearing financial and economic harm if it was produced.
Cavoukian reiterated that "citizens cannot participate meaningfully in the democratic process and hold politicians and bureaucrats accountable unless they have access to information held by government, subject only to necessary exemptions that are limited and specific."
The IPC continues advocate a fair disposal process for photos, fingerprints and criminal history records retained in police records of individuals who were charged but later found innocent.
The commision's full report is available on the Internet at www.ipc.on.ca.