Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario Releases Discussion Paper on Publication of Personal Information Online by Municipalities

On August 4, 2015, the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for Ontario (IPC) published a new discussion paper entitled “Transparency, Privacy and the Internet: Municipal Balancing Acts” (Discussion Paper). The Discussion Paper provides options to municipalities for navigating their seemingly disparate obligations to make certain information publicly available for the purpose of transparency and accountability on the one hand, while at the same time complying with their obligations to protect any privacy interests in that information as required under Ontario’s Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA).  Publication of the Discussion Paper follows a March 2015 decision of the IPC finding the City of Vaughan was not in breach of the MFIPPA for publication of personal information online; however, the IPC did recommend implementation of certain privacy protective measures for the online context.

The Discussion Paper further highlights the distinction between information made available by a municipality online versus in hardcopy:

There are many benefits to publishing online. It can be a cost-effective way to meet statutory requirements to make information publicly available, [...] reduce administrative burdens associated with maintaining records on site for public access and even reduce the number of access to information requests that the municipality will need to respond to. [...] [However] [t]he potential risks associated with the Internet publication of personal information as opposed to making a paper record available for examination are very different. The degree of accessibility of records published online can go much further than simple access via the municipality’s website.