Privacy commissioner: Time to act is now,
Federal privacy watchdog says regulations overdue on use of personal info
OTTAWA– Canada’s privacy commissioner is calling on the government finally to bring in concrete rules over how political parties collect and use Canadians’ personal information.
“If there was ever a time for action, I think, frankly, this is it,” Daniel Therrien told the House of Commons’ ethics committee Tuesday as the first witness at its study of the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandal.
And after years of inaction, the major parties might finally be listening.
Therrien said that rules governing how federal parties collect, store and exploit Canadians’ personal information are long overdue. And he told reporters, the Liberal government recently contacted his office to discuss the issue.
“If the government is to focus on what is achievable before the next election, I would say to en- sure that political parties are governed by privacy legislation,” Therrien said.
But while he was clear about his office’s need for “powers to inspect and make orders when we find that violations occur,” he added, “I still do not see a very clear intent to act” from the government.
U.K.-based Cambridge Analytica is accused of obtaining data from 87 million Facebook users, using it to build voter profiles and selling the analysis to political campaigns. Facebook says more than 622,000 Canadian users’ data was obtained by Cambridge Analytica.
But as MPs ponder whether Facebook needs stricter federal regulation — an outcome Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg described as “inevitable” — they’re also facing some awk- ward questions about how their parties exploit personal information.
There are currently no rules or oversight for political parties’ data operations.
Privacy laws governing government departments and private companies do not apply, and while parties have their own privacy policies, they’re effectively self-policing.
Nathaniel Erskine-Smith, the Liberal deputy chair on the committee, said that gap in Canada’s privacy laws “needs to be addressed.”
“Obviously, Cambridge Analytica, Facebook, the public attention that’s been drawn to this issue creates the public space to have the conversation,” Erskine-Smith said.
“There’s been political will across the table at this committee for a long time.”
Both Conservative MP Peter Kent and NDP MP Charlie Angus agreed that, as the public becomes more aware of how political actors use citizens’ personal information, rules for Canadian political parties are required.
“I think it is now an obligation, an unavoidable obligation, for the government to consider bringing political activities, political data management, into and under the provisions of the Privacy Act,” said Kent.
“Given the ability of (Facebook) to be so easily distorted, we have to have that conversation,” said Angus.
“For political parties, we need to talk about putting political parties under (privacy laws) … There has to be some level of accountability for this powerful use of data.”
The committee is scheduled to resume its study on Thursday, when Kevin Chan, the head of public policy at Facebook Canada, is expected to testify.
The committee has also summoned Christopher Wylie, the Canadian whistleblower who helped found Cambridge Analytica, to testify next week.