Private property

ROBERT MACEACHERN STAFF

There are some things that people take great care in protecting from harm. It may be something as real as a prized record collection, or intangible items such as religious beliefs. Regardless of their physical existence, items of value are kept safe and sound, and are defended bitterly when they are threatened. However, there are times when an individual can take all necessary precautions and still end up losing what it is they wish to protect.

Personal privacy is a perfect example of this. The struggle between citizens wishing to maintain their privacy and the various corporations and government agencies that insist on collecting as much information as possible has always existed. Now, thanks to two pieces of legislation, the Privacy Act and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act, the rules governing what information the government and business can collect are now much more strict than they have ever been. Each act also allows individuals to make complaints to the privacy commissioner of Canada if they feel privacy rights are not being respected.

Unfortunately the problem of protecting the information once it has been collected still exists. There have been numerous examples of sensitive personal information being carelessly sent to unintended recipients. The latest instance comes from a couple in Edmonton who for more than three years were receiving faxes that included bank records and credit card numbers belonging to clients of the Bank of Montreal (BMO). The faxes were coming from BMO branches across Canada and, ironically, were intended for the BMO’s Fraud and Investigations division. The CIBC has also had major issues protecting customer information. Between 2001 and 2004, faxes regarding private banking information were sent to a West Virginia scrapyard, affecting several hundred CIBC customers. CIBC was also forced to announce that in January 2007, a file containing 470,000 records of customer information had been lost.

Now more than ever, industry and government must exercise extreme caution when dealing with personal information, due to advances in technology that enable criminals to buy and sell stolen information with each other across the globe through online chat services. A study by Survey, Opinion polls and Marketing SOM, a Montreal-based research firm, found that approximately seven per cent of Canadians report being victims of identity theft.

The handling of highly sensitive and private personal information should no longer be taken lightly. Proper training and education programs on how to protect the privacy of individuals should be a top priority for Canadian businesses and government agencies, and careless users should be punished harshly. Something as simple as a misdialed fax should no longer have the potential to lead to the hijacking of a citizen’s identity.