Ethics committee seeks changes to privacy laws, opting out of data collection

The House of Commons’ Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics is calling for the government to strengthen the opt-out option for consumers, and recommends greater consultation with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, in regard to data collection. Monday, the committee tabled its report into the collection and use of mobility data. It also calls for an overhaul of Canada’s two main pieces of privacy legislation. The 58-page report features 22 recommendations and a dissent from the committee’s Liberal members. The process began in January when four MPs, led by the Conservatives’ then-ethics critic John Brassard, called for an investigation into the collection of data by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) to monitor the spread of COVID-19. A request for proposal (RFP) had been issued by the health agency seeking a company that could analyze Canadians’ cell phone data. The original deadline was for a time when Parliament was not in session, depriving MPs of following up on the matter. The deadline was extended twice to give Parliamentarians oversight of the proposal. Both PHAC and the companies that won the initial RFP, Telus Corp. and Blue Dot Corp., stressed that the information gathered was de-identified and aggregated. Consumers had the option to opt-out, the committee was told, but locating the opt-out function on Telus’ website was difficult. The committee’s first recommendation is “that the Government of Canada stipulate in all future requests for proposals for collecting data of Canadians that Canadians have the option to opt out of the data collection and that instructions for the method for opting out be easily understood, widely communicated and remain publicly available.” The report conceded that in some cases opting-out is not in the public interest. During his testimony, Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien told the MPs that while his office offered to consult with PHAC on the data dive contract, that offer was rebuffed. The office was informed of the RFP but had no further input. That led to the second recommendation of the report, “that the Government of Canada fully and meaningfully consult with the Privacy Commission of Canada before engaging in a data collection program and continue to do so on an ongoing basis for the duration of the program.” During her testimony, former Ontario Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian said PHAC’s lack of transparency was “appalling”. When asked about the notion that people who had nothing to hide should not worry about data collection, she responded, “that could have been the motto for the Stassi or the Third Reich.” Therrien and Cavoukian were among the witnesses calling for strengthening of privacy legislation. The ethics committee agreed. Recommendation number seven is “that the Government of Canada amend the Privacy Act and the Personal Information and Electronic Documents Act to define what constitutes a ‘legitimate commercial interest’ and ‘public good’ in the collection, storage, use, transfer, and sale of private data, such as mobility data, and that the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada be given the power to investigate breaches of the ethical guidelines defining those criteria.” The next two recommendations called on the government to amend privacy legislation to make the laws applicable to the use of de-identified and aggregated data and the establishment of a standard for such information. The tenth recommendation urges a ban on re-identifying the data. The final suggestions want increased education on mobility tracking and increased digital literacy. In its conclusion, the committee calls on the government and its agencies to be as transparent as possible. “The evidence clearly illustrated that Canada’s current regulatory framework does not adequately address the use of data, particularly de-identified or aggregated data. The committee notes, as it has in several previous reports, that federal privacy laws are in dire need of modernization,” the report states. The five Liberal MPs on the 11-member committee issued a dissenting opinion at the end of the report. They pointed out that opposition members frequently alleged that most Canadians had their information tracked, which the Grits said was wrong. “Witnesses confirmed that while mobility data was collected, it was not for 33 million people, as was reported and echoed by members of the committee,” their part of the paper read. The LIberals also worried that some of the recommendations went far beyond the scope of the original motion to establish the investigation. While they agreed that an overhaul of privacy legislation was needed, the government MPs urged a review of the use of de-identified and aggregated data. “Without a fulsome review, the possible result could be a patchwork of amendments that do not solve the challenges at hand,” the dissent concluded. –Reporting by Paul Park at ppark@thewrirereport.ca and editing by Jenna Cocullo at jcocullo@thewirereport.ca

Ethics committee seeks changes to privacy laws, opting out of data collection

News | May 3, 2022

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Ethics committee seeks changes to privacy laws, opting out of data collection

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