Commish ‘frustrated for Canadian citizens’ as privacy laws lag

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened privacy concerns around activities like videoconferencing, ehealth and elearning that have become more prevalent in our lives, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner said in its annual report Thursday. While those options have allowed Canadians to safely resume many aspects of their lives in the era of social distancing, they have also raised new risks, privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said in the preamble to the report. “For example, telemedicine creates risks to doctor-patient confidentiality when virtual platforms involve commercial enterprises. E-learning platforms can capture sensitive information about students’ learning disabilities and other behavioural issues.” The report also said the federal government’s COVID-19 contact tracing app, released earlier this summer, is a good example of how privacy by design principles can be incorporated into government or private sector sector projects. But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. When the app was first announced, it didn’t have the OPC’s sign off, and when it was released in late July, it was initially unclear whether it had received the approval of the commissioner’s office. Therrien told reporters Thursday that he was surprised during his office’s discussions with the government around the COVID Alert app, when government representatives initially said the app didn’t fall under the Privacy Act. “Government officials made the remarkable statement that current federal privacy laws do not apply to this app,” Therrien said during the press conference. “This assertion certainly gives one pause. An extremely privacy sensitive initiative is defended by the Government of Canada as not subject to its privacy laws. Privacy is considered by the government as a good practice, but not a legal requirement. How long can this go on?” That story was one of the examples given by Therrien to illustrate the need to reform Canada’s privacy laws, something he has long been calling for. In August he sent a letter to opposition MPs making many of the same points. The report outlined that the initial version of the app proposed by the government didn’t meet key privacy principles, but after discussions, changes were made so the final version did. It also flagged a concern that, “while the app is voluntary as it relates to the government, there is still a possibility that third parties may seek to compel app users to disclose information as to their use of the app, including any exposure notifications.” The report repeated Therrien’s call to reform privacy laws to codify privacy as a human right. It also reiterated the need for order-making and enforcement powers, which the OPC has been calling for for years. The OPC also said that while the government has been talking more about reform “than any other time in recent memory,” there has been no action since the release of the Digital Charter in May 2019. Therrien was asked whether he expects changes to the law at Thursday’s press conference, given how long he has been calling for updates without action by the government. Therrien responded that a number of provinces have started to act on their own and have begun reviewing privacy laws due to the lack of action of the federal government. He also noted that the European Union will soon be assessing whether Canada meets its adequacy standard, which allows Canada to receive European data without additional authorization. Therrien said he thinks Canada’s adequacy status is “at risk if Canada does not move.” “That in itself should be a factor for the federal government to act,” he noted. He was also asked whether he is frustrated by the fact that nothing is happening. “I am frustrated for Canadian citizens, firstly. Canadian citizens have less privacy protection than citizens of about 40 countries,” Therrien responded. The report said the number of privacy breaches reported to the OPC more than doubled from last year, up to 678 reports that affected an estimated 30 million Canadian accounts. It noted 17 per cent of breach reports were from the telecom sector. An increased number of those involved unauthorized SIM swapping or porting, where malicious actors take over a phone number and use it to gain access to the victim’s bank account, social media or other accounts. Over the year, the OPC conducted an exercise focusing on the telecom sector, examining the breach records of seven telecom companies. The report said while “generally, the industry appears to be taking their obligations seriously,” 40 per cent of the records didn’t include enough detail and another 20 per cent “of the records related to non-reported breaches should likely have been reported to our office.” — Reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

Commish ‘frustrated for Canadian citizens’ as privacy laws lag

News | October 8, 2020

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Commish ‘frustrated for Canadian citizens’ as privacy laws lag

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