Privacy Commissioners Update: Canada and Ontario

As we approached the half-way point in 2006, the Federal and Ontario Privacy Commissioners were in the news. On June 19, privacy guidelines (Guidelines) for radio frequency identification (RFID) were issued in Ontario. According to the Ontario Privacy Commissioner, Dr Ann Cavoukian, the Guidelines are based on three principles:

1. any privacy implications involve RFID information systems, as opposed to the underlying technology itself,
2. users of RFID technology should address privacy and security issues early in the design stage and should emphasize data minimization, and
3. use of RFID information systems should be as open and transparent to users as possible.

On June 20, the Federal Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddardt, tabled her 2005-2006 Annual Report (Report) on the Privacy Act in Parliament. Of note in the Report is the completion of a major audit of the Canada Border Services Agency (CSBA), prompted by concerns about transborder flows of personal information. The Commissioner found that while the CSBA has policies, procedures and systems to manage and share information with other countries, "more must be done to mitigate risks and achieve greater accountability and control over that information". In an online report by itbusiness.ca, the Commissioner is reported to have said that "too much information is shared verbally between the Canadian and US border [officials]". For the Ontario Guidelines on RFID, see: http://makeashorterlink.com/?P28252D5D For a complete copy of the 86-page Report of the Federal Privacy Commissioner, including a Table of Contents, visit: http://makeashorterlink.com/?G29264D5D Summary by: The Editor