Feds, 4 provinces not looking at COVID-19 phone tracking

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the federal government isn’t currently considering using location data from Canadians’ cellphones to track the spread of COVID-19, while representatives from the Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Nunavut governments also told The Wire Report they don’t have such measures in the works. “We recognise that in an emergency situation we need to take certain steps that wouldn’t be taken in non-emergency situations, but as far as I know that is not a situation we are looking at right now,” Trudeau told reporters. “But as I’ve said, all options are on the table to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe in these exceptional times.” The Wire Report reached out to provincial and territorial governments Tuesday to ask whether they were working on using cellphone location data to combat COVID-19, or whether it is something they would consider in the future. Nine did not immediately respond, while four said such initiatives aren’t in the works. “This is not something we are working on,” Marie-Claude Lacasse, spokeswoman for the Quebec health ministry said in an email. She added that she could not “say if this is something we would ever consider in the future.” Colleen Book, spokeswoman for the Saskatchewan health ministry, wrote in an email that “this is not something we are considering at the moment.” A spokesperson for Manitoba said in an email that province is also “not investigating this option at this time.” Neither is the Nunavut government, a spokesperson said in an email, adding that it's "not something that we’re planning, given our small and wide-spread population. We will be able to track spread, given communities-size." Using cellphone data to monitor the spread of COVID-19 is a measure a number of other countries have introduced in recent weeks as the virus has spread around the world. The Wire Report reported last week that Canada could use cellphone data for this purpose in two different ways; using anonymized information, which doesn’t fall under privacy laws, and which privacy experts told The Wire Report wouldn’t raise privacy concerns. However, the situation is more complicated if authorities are interested in using personally identifiable information, which they would need lawful authority to gather. That could be done either by going through the courts for a warrant or production order, or through an order made under federal or provincial emergency legislation. A government source said last week it wasn’t a measure the federal government was looking at. But Trudeau’s comments followed signals from other levels of government that they are interested in using this type of information. The Logic reported Tuesday morning that Toronto major John Tory had said the city was gathering cellphone data to map out where people were gathering; city staff later contradicted that in a statement. Ontario premier Doug Ford indicated last week that it’s an option he’s considering. Canada’s chief public health officer, Theresa Tam, was also asked Tuesday about whether gathering cellphone data was a viable way to slow the spread of the virus. “I think there’s lots of innovative approaches and they should all be examined obviously with due respect to privacy, ethics and all of those considerations,” Tam responded, according to a transcript. “I heard in the Northwest Territories they have a smart phone which they are providing to anyone entering their jurisdiction in order to follow them up and ensure they are in self-isolation, anyone who is coming from outside of the Northwest Territories,” she noted. The NWT government did not immediately respond to a question about this initiative. But Tam said that the government’s “primary strategy is to ensure people are self-isolating when they should be and also that everyone is respecting social distancing.” On Tuesday, both University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist and Teresa Scassa, Canada research chair in information law and policy at the University of Ottawa, said in separate blog posts authorities should be careful in how they use this data. “In normal times, most Canadians would respond to the collection and use of sensitive health and location information with a hard no. But these are not normal times. The trade-offs between public health and privacy, not to mention the massive impact being felt by millions as the economy grinds to a halt, means that all measures can and should be considered in response to the global pandemic,” Geist wrote. That means the question isn’t whether the data should be used, but rather what are the circumstances, safeguards and oversight around that use, he said. There should be strict limits on how long the data can be retained and rules on how quickly it must be deleted. It should only be used for the specific public health purposes, with “restrictions on further disclosure, severely limiting access only to trusted individuals within governmental organizations,” Geist argued. Geist said, that even “with these safeguards, appropriate oversight and penalties are needed,” such as transparency from authorities, public reports, “real-time” oversight from the federal privacy commissioner, and “tough penalties for any potential violations.” “Perhaps most importantly, these powers must be temporary in nature, requiring parliamentary approval for short term use and regular renewals as events warrant,” he wrote. “Given the privacy risks associated with these uses of sensitive health and location tracking, we must ensure that it does not become the new normal.” Scassa also noted in her post that a “common theme in all of the debates and discussions around data and privacy in the current context is that exceptional circumstances call for exceptional measures.” But privacy and civil liberties shouldn’t be “casual victims of pandemic panic,” she wrote. “A careful balancing of interests can be reflected not just in the measures involving the collection and use of data, but also in issues of oversight, transparency, accountability, and, perhaps most importantly, in limits on the duration of collection and use.” — With reporting by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca and editing by Adam Langenberg at alangenberg@thewirereport.ca

Feds, 4 provinces not looking at COVID-19 phone tracking

News | March 24, 2020

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Feds, 4 provinces not looking at COVID-19 phone tracking

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