Ontario's new information and privacy commissioner says she supports the provincial government's efforts to explore the creation of a private sector privacy law that could be expanded to include political parties.
This comes as the Ontario Liberal Party insists user information from a new website asking Ontarians to share their back-to-school stories will not be used for fundraising or be added to the party's voter database following criticism from the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario about "ethical and privacy concerns."
"I applaud this effort and look forward to participating in an informed dialogue on this issue," said Information and Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim in a statement to QP Briefing about the <a href="https://www.ontariocanada.com/registry/view.do?language=en&amp;postingId=33967" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">consultations</a> the province launched <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/08/14/ontario-eyeing-privacy-law-for-private-sector-political-parties-non-profits-and-unions/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">in August</a> "to create a legislative framework for privacy in the province's private sector."
"The personal information management practices of Ontario’s political parties currently fall in a legislative vacuum. Significant advances in technology have allowed political parties generally to collect and store vast amounts of personal information, but with little or no regulatory oversight," stated Kosseim, who took on her current role in July. "Like my predecessor, and my colleagues across the country ... I am of the view that political parties, as all other responsible public and private sector organizations, should be held accountable for the personal information they collect, use and disclose."
Kosseim's predecessor told the <a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/06/10/the-qp-briefing-podcast-featuring-ipc-brian-beamish/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">QP Briefing</a><a href="https://www.qpbriefing.com/2020/06/10/the-qp-briefing-podcast-featuring-ipc-brian-beamish/"> podcast</a> in June that he thinks political parties in Canada should be subject to privacy regulations.
"I do think its time has come — the problem is it will take the politicians to say, 'Yes, we'll voluntarily subject ourselves to privacy oversight,' and it remains to be seen whether that will happen or not," Brian Beamish said at the time.
Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca said in a statement to QP Briefing that "it's important that the government do more to protect the privacy of Ontarians."
"The consultations are a good first step but the government must truly listen, and I hope they will," he said.
Meanwhile, Nicko Vavassis, spokesperson for Minister of Government and Consumer Service Lisa Thompson who is overseeing the consultation process, said the conversations and concerns that have "been raised about the (Liberals') launch of a misleading website validate the actions our government is taking to seek more input from the public to create a legislative framework for privacy in the province's private sector."
Earlier this week the Ontario Liberal Party launched a new website — Keep Our Schools Safe — in advance of schools reopening across the province. Del Duca said it was a way for "parents, teachers and educators to share their stories so that Doug Ford is forced to hear their voices, stories about what’s working locally and what’s not."
"I want to hear the good and the bad, and I want to pass this information along to the premier because I sincerely hope that he will come to his senses and realize that public education and supporting it is one of his most profoundly important responsibilities when you get to hold the office of premier in a province like ours," Del Duca said at a press conference on Tuesday.
<img class="alignright wp-image-377328" src="https://www.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-01-at-11.31.00-AM-405x225.png" alt="" width="500" height="278" srcset="https://old.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-01-at-11.31.00-AM-405x225.png 405w, https://old.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-01-at-11.31.00-AM-843x468.png 843w, https://old.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-01-at-11.31.00-AM-768x427.png 768w, https://old.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-01-at-11.31.00-AM-1536x853.png 1536w, https://old.qpbriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Screen-Shot-2020-09-01-at-11.31.00-AM.png 1620w" sizes="(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px" />The website asks Ontarians to share their experiences of schools reopening either via text or video. On the <a href="https://ontarioliberal.ca/keepourschoolssafe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">website</a>, individuals are asked to include their name, email address and postal code and they also have to consent to the fact that whatever they submit "could be shared with the government ... and on the Ontario Liberal Party website or social media accounts" and that they "may hear from the Ontario Liberal Party from time to time."
Checking the box to remain anonymous means that the party would "still collect their information in case followup is required, (but) their identity will not be shared publicly," a Liberal party spokesperson, who spoke with QP Briefing on background, stated. So far, nearly 100 testimonies are posted on the website, with many of the users listed as "anonymous," although their occupations and cities are listed.
The Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario criticized the Liberals' website after it was launched and called on them to take it down.
"They say they want to 'document' parent and teacher experiences but are really collecting personal information to be used in future Ontario Liberal fundraising campaigns," the PC party said in a statement on Tuesday, citing a <a href="https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/ontario-liberals-launch-back-to-school-whistleblowing-website-1.5087351" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CTV article</a> that stated Liberal insiders "acknowledge the information gathered could be used for future fundraising emails or calls from the party."
"This raises serious ethical and privacy concerns. It is also dangerous for parents, students, and teachers," the PC party added.
Del Duca told iPolitics in an interview on Thursday that people can choose whether or not to share information with the party, but that if they do provide feedback through the website, "it will not be used by the Ontario Liberal Party for any fundraising."
"We will communicate with people from time to time who share their information with us, but if any individual who has or will be receiving information from the party wants to stop receiving it we always respect that and we will take care of that right away," he added.
The Liberal party spokesperson acknowledged that while typically individuals' information that is collected would be added to a voter file and could be used for fundraising efforts, in this instance the decision was made not to have the information of individuals sharing their back-to-school experiences added to the file.
"No one who has submitted information to this is being added to the file, so as a result, no one is going to be receiving fundraising emails," the spokesperson said.
Asked whether the Liberals' website creates any privacy concerns, Kosseim said that "consenting to share one’s name and email address for a known and limited purpose should not, in and of itself, raise privacy concerns."
"However, privacy issues will arise if that personal information is used for other purposes that an individual did not know about or understand, if it is shared with third parties for unauthorized purposes, or if the security measures used to safeguard the personal information are insufficient to reasonably protect it against phishing or other cyberattacks for illicit ends," she added.
"I don’t see anything that the privacy commissioner has flagged that could possibly ... be a concern for this particular website," the Liberal party spokesperson said, adding that when it comes to security features, "there’s quite judicious things put in place in order to protect privacy and data."
The PC party did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
Meanwhile, Kosseim offered some advice to political parties until the time when they might see new privacy rules that apply to them. She said they "should always conduct themselves in accordance with privacy best practices in order to earn and maintain the trust of individuals."
"This includes utmost transparency in the purported uses of the personal information being collected.  Political parties should be clear about how the personal information may be used in the future or with whom it may be shared," Kosseim said. "Such details should be provided in sufficient granular detail, right upfront, so individuals may make an informed choice about whether to participate in the survey and have a clear idea of what they are signing up for when they consent in the first place."
-With files from Iain Sherriff-Scott

Political parties should be ‘held accountable’ for personal information they collect and use, says privacy commissioner

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