Today’s Slaw post
Two current privacy stories are worth mentioning. First, see this CBC news article entitled Political parties operate outside Canada’s privacy laws. The controversy arises from an email sent by a Cabinet Minister to those who signed a petition.
Also see this article entitled Websites leaking customers’ personal info, says privacy watchdog and the PrivacyCommissioner’s news release. The issue here is the revelation by the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, that 1 in 4 of the 25 websites her office looked at were passing on personal information of users to third party advertising and marketing firms without user consent.
Here is an infographic on web leakage provided by the Commissioner.
While on the surface, privacy issues can appear to be simple, there is often room for interpretation, and viewpoints can vary. Those accused of abusing privacy may not understand the issues, may not have educated employees on what they can and can’t do, or may be burying their heads in the sand because they don’t want to face that they may not be able to use personal information to their advantage without permission.
UPDATE: Sept 27 And see this article about an MP’s email exposing 1500 addresses.