BC Privacy Czar Criticizes Data Collection Regarding "Know Your Customer" By-laws

The British Columbia Privacy Commissioner has criticized the adoption of municipal by-laws that require businesses to share personal information of their customers with police. Many Canadian municipalities have long required businesses such as pawn-shops and second-hand dealers to collect and disclose their customers' personal information. However, some municipalities have begun to broaden the scope of these "know your customer" information collection rules to cover, for example, adult entertainment services, private mailbox rentals, sales of pepper spray and hydroponic equipment. Further, the Commissioner noted a growing trend of by-laws requiring mandatory daily reporting of personal information to law enforcement agencies, a practice facilitated by purpose-built commercial software. The Commissioner admonished municipalities not to pass by-laws which compel citizens to give up their privacy in a wholesale and indiscriminate manner, such disclosure being better dealt with via traditional search-and-seizure processes in the courts. He concluded that know-your-customer rules should be adopted only as a justified last resort, subject to privacy impact assessments and, if adopted, designed to minimize privacy intrusions. For the full Report of the BC Privacy Commissioner, see: http://nunnutic.notlong.com Summary by: Jason Young