Parliamentary Committee Lists Recommendations To Help Reform Federal Privacy Act
The Parliament of Canada Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy, and Ethics recently released the results of its look into the Privacy Act. The Privacy Act regulates the use, disclosure, and collection of personal information by federal public bodies. The Parliament of Canada Standing Committee believes that the act is outdated and needs to be reformed. The Privacy Commissioner and Canadian Bar Association have listed some recommendations that potentially could improve the Privacy Act. The recommendations have been summarized below:
The Privacy Act should be expanded to look at the constitutional nature of privacy rights. This issue can addressed by including principles from the Personal Information Protection and Electronics Documents Act. The term personal information should be amended so that it is technologically neutral. The Government of Canada should define metadata in a neutral way.
In addition, the Privacy Act should require that all information be governed through written agreements. It should create a requirement that new agreements must be submitted to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada for review. The Privacy Commissioner would review any existing agreements.
The Privacy Act should require that all departments be transparent about info sharing agreements. In most cases, these agreements should be made public. The Privacy Act should be amended to require institutions to protect personal information with measures that match the seriousness of the data. If the information is not protected, there should be consequences.
The Privacy Act should create a requirement for government institutions to alert the Office of Privacy Commissioner about breaches. All individuals potentially affected by the breaches should be notified in a timely manner.
It is especially important that an institution that receives personal information must meet the criteria of necessity and proportionality. Compliance must be adhered to in regards to the retention of any personal information. Set rules should be clear concerning the collection and protection of personal information that available through social media and the internet.
The Canadian Government utilize an order making model with clear parameters to adhere to. The Canadian Government should combine the functions of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada. The Privacy Act should mandate that government institutions conducts assessments for different programs. The assessments must be submitted to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. All legislation and regulations should be discussed among the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and government institutions before being passed.
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