Comments on: Our Top Ten list of Privacy Act fixes

By: jeanette

jeanette — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 19:49:01 +0000

For the love of privacy please ask CCRA to discontinue the practice of including our SIN’s in the tax preparation forms. Isn’t this just what identity thieves live for? I suggest any such sensitive information be left out or obscured.

By: mike waddingham

mike waddingham — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:44:28 +0000

Just reading through some old posts and came across this list. Curious — why is mandatory breach reporting not on the list? Perhaps it’s not something the Privacy Act would govern?

I was prompted by the discovery of the Maryland Attorney General’s site listing breaches: http://www.oag.state.md.us/idtheft/breacheNotices.htm

Seems progressive… what is preventing us from doing the same?

Mike
codetechnolgy.ca

By: Richard Sharp

Richard Sharp — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 23:56:19 +0000

Where did everyone go?

Why is the print on this reply so small I can hardly read it?

By: Daphne Guerrero

Daphne Guerrero — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:58:29 +0000

Hi David,

This is the official blog of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. From our blog mission statement:

“With this tool, we hope to make the activities of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner more accessible to Canadians and to increase contact between the Office and Canadians interested about privacy issues and legislation.

As an Officer of Parliament, the Privacy Commissioner has a mandate to protect the privacy rights of individuals and promote the privacy protections available to Canadians.”

We also make a special effort to identify and highlight information and advice that may help Canadians understand their rights under Canada’s privacy legislation.

By: David

David — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:42:46 +0000

So is this an official web site or a private blog?

By: Jason

Jason — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 04:48:21 +0000

Great list. I agree that #1 is very pressing, and I think #4 is going to become more pressing as we see technologies mature that further enable corporations and policy makers to “leverage” them for control and profits.

Thanks again,

By: Tyler

Tyler — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:54:32 +0000

Great post.

Number 1 is definitely the most concerning!

By: Colin McKay

Colin McKay — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 09:51:54 +0000

Hi Joe.

This blog is the product of a number of people in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Here’s the description from the “blog mission” page:

“This blog is not written by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Instead, it is group effort by employees working for the Office of the Privacy Commissioner.”

There are a few reasons why authors are not identified on the posts themselves:

- as the creator of the blog, I am ultinmately responsible for the content.

- since some of the authors from the Office are trying blogging for the first time, this allows them to write and post while respecting any qualms about adding to the information available about them online.

- I did not want the posts being assessed on the perceived authority, level of issue awareness, or even corporate rank of the author. The implied authority and influence should be equal among all the posts.

Finally, this blog is still experimental – if a little old for that tag. As the team of bloggers grows larger and more experienced, we may change our policy.

Colin

By: Joseph Thornley

Joseph Thornley — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 02:56:05 +0000

A very interesting post. Thought provoking?

One question: Who is the author? Blog posts are most credible if the author is apparent. In this case, the title uses the royal “we.” A bit of a cop out.

Does the post represent the views of the Privacy Commissioner herself? Or a single author from within her office? Of perhaps the collective views of the group who brown bagged lunch?

Please add the author information.

By: Ole Juul

Ole Juul — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 05:15:45 +0000

I like this list. However, regarding point one. I’m not sure that we should ever disclose personal information to foreign governments. No government has yet shown that they can keep it private and, more importantly, their rules could change at any time. The sad fact is that since the Commodore 64, computers have gotten less and less secure. Yes, I agree that it’s about time that we updated our privacy laws, however I still call it Dominion Day.