PHAC lack of transparency “appalling”, Cavoukian tells Ethics committee

Ontario’s former privacy commissioner called the Public Health Agency’s (PHAC) lack of transparency on mobility data collection “appalling” and urged a strengthening of privacy laws at the federal level. “I am concerned about the lack of transparency at PHAC,” Ann Cavoukian told the House of Commons Ethics committee on Thursday. For several months now, the agency has been collecting mobility data on Canadians to monitor the fight against COVID. A request for proposal (RFP) was issued just before Christmas to extend that monitoring. The initial contract was awarded to Telus Corp. and Blue Dot Corp. Cavoukian, currently executive director of Global Privacy and Security By Design, said she found it problematic that the government informed but did not consult with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien. Therrien told the committee on Monday that his offers to consult on the original RFP had been rejected by government officials.The former Ontario official termed that “completely unacceptable.” Like Therrien, Cavoukian advocated strengthening the federal privacy regulations. “It’s high time we upgraded the privacy laws,” she stated in her opening remarks. Appearing alongside her as a witness was Teresa Scassa, Canada Research Chair in Information Law and Policy at the University of Ottawa. Scassa called for modernizing the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The former applies to the public sector, the latter to the private sector. Scassa mentioned that Ontario had revised its privacy rules in 2019 and that there were provisions in the online harms bill that died on the order paper in the last Parliament to update rules. Asked to give examples of better laws in other jurisdictions, both witnesses cited the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union. Under questioning from MPs, Cavoukian said she was not satisfied that the government had done enough to inform Canadians about how their data was going to be used. In 2020 Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chief Public Health Officer Theresa Tam held a news conference describing the mobility tracking plan. “The government should have provided more notice to the public,” Cavoukian said. Liberal MP Lisa Hepfner asked how the government could have been more transparent, given the news conference and a website from PHAC detailing COVID reports. “I don’t call that transparency,” Cavoukian responded. “You have to put it out there.” Scassa said part of the problem is that private companies like Telus and Blue Dot operate under different privacy rules than the government does. Both she and Cavoukian praised Telus for its methodology in handling data from subscribers. “I’d have no problem with my mobility data ,” Scassa told the committee. Cavoukian echoed those remarks, saying the western telecom is doing an “excellent” job. Cavoukian said the whole issue revolves around Canadians’ trust in their rulers. “Trust in government is eroding,” she remarked. “Public trust is essential. It’s fleeting right now. Privacy is the foundation of our freedom.” She questioned how data would continue to be used following the end of the pandemic. Cavoukian pointed to privacy intrusions following the 9/11 attacks and how the intrusions were not abandoned when the crisis ended. There are no guarantees that information will not be used whenever COVID ends. “I would object to that,” the one-time privacy commissioner offered. Bloc Québécois MP René Villemure asked Cavoukian what she thought of the idea that people shouldn’t be concerned about their privacy if they had nothing to hide. “That could have been the motto of the Stasi or the Third Reich,” she countered. The committee session’s second hour was dedicated to presentations by two Montreal academics, Martin French from the department of sociology and anthropology at Concordia University and Daniel Weinstock of the philosophy department at McGill. Weinstock repeated the earlier witnesses’ comments about trust in the system. He pointed out that in Quebec people accepted restrictions on their freedom until they found them excessive and then pushed back. Proper information has to be given to the populace, he stated. “If governments show their justification, there’s no issue of distrust,” he opined. French said there is a dichotomy between types of consent. He cited the example of PHAC’s Flu Watcher app, which French subscribes to. He actively gave his consent to provide information to the agency. That isn’t possible for things like mobility data. “I’m not sure every Telus user knew they could opt out,” he remarked. “The terms of service are not written to be read.” When Liberal MP Greg Fergus pointed out that Telus had received awards for its privacy protection, the Concordia professor replied, “We can’t reach perfection but we can go further.” He said he would like to educate the public on data flows. An opt-in system would be preferable but French conceded that would have additional costs for the telecom providers. Villemure asked Weinstock if the government’s statements from 2020 are enough to guarantee an informed populace. The McGill educator said two years is a long time and that the message needs to be repeated, preferably by elected officials rather than public servants. Those officials should be more forthcoming, he added. The committee has already heard from Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos and Dr. Tam. A committee recommendation that PHAC delay the new RFP was adopted by the House of Commons earlier this week. Originally the RFP was to expire before Parliament resumed but its deadline has been extended twice. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewirereport.ca and editing by Michael Lee-Murphy at mleemurphy@thewirereport.ca

PHAC lack of transparency “appalling”, Cavoukian tells Ethics committee

News | 02/11/2022 10:06 am EST

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