Canadian Government Launches Review Of Social Media Data Collection Protocols

After a red flag was raised by Interim Privacy Commissioner Chantal Bernier, the federal government has agreed to review its protocols regarding the collection of citizens’ publically available social media information. Currently, government institutions aggregate publically available personal information from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. The Interim Privacy Commissioner had expressed concern to Treasury Board President Tony Clement in a February letter obtained by the press earlier this month, that the government’s activities likely violated Canadian privacy law. Under section 4 of the Privacy Act (Act), government agencies can collect personal information from social media sites only in cases where there is a direct relation to a specific government program or activity. “Even in cases where authority exists, institutions may not be ensuring the accuracy of such information as required by section 6 of the Act,” Ms Bernier wrote. In a reply addressed to Ms Bernier, Mr Clement contended that the government is not evading privacy law restrictions because it only aggregates publically available data which does not qualify as personal information. He recently told reporters: “I don’t see anything wrong with that. Most Canadians, when you put something on Facebook or Twitter, assume that somebody’s going to read it”. This view stands in contrast with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner’s (OPC) stance on the status of social media data. In its Special Report to Parliament released in January of this year, the OPC stated: “the public availability of personal information on the Internet does not render personal information non-personal.” Ms Bernier cites this report, and concludes that "For good or ill, research demonstrates that social media users have a certain expectation of privacy." The federal government similarly was criticized last year for collecting information from a First Nations activist’s personal Facebook page. In its report regarding the matter, the OPC stated that it is a “misconception that people surrender their right to privacy by posting on Facebook.” The Interim Privacy Commissioner urged more clarity, transparency and accountability on the part of the government, suggesting in her February letter that it would be helpful to have the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat develop and issue “clear, mandatory guidance to articulate what constitutes 'publically available' personal information, how and when such information can be collected and used [and] what responsibilities must be met to ensure its accuracy and currency." Summary by: Elena Iosef