EDMONTON — Elections Alberta issued numerous cease-and-desist orders to Centurion Project officials and members on Wednesday as the office continues its investigation into an alleged breach of Alberta's electoral list. "It has come to my attention Centurion Project Ltd. was in possession of a copy of the list of electors," read a copy of a letter from Chief Electoral Officer Gordon McClure emailed to Martin Belanger. "The contents, distribution, and use of the list of electors is governed by the provisions of the Election Act, specifically Part 2 Division 2. A copy of the list of electors was uploaded to the Centurion Project Ltd. website, and accessible by members of the public.""It has further come to my attention that an individual accessed the Centurion Project database with the email address listed above." Belanger was among the 568 individuals reported to have received a letter from McClure on Wednesday, as the office begins contacting those who received information about The Centurion Project and may have accessed its public database. .The Centurion Project allegedly constructed the database using information extracted from a copy of Alberta's List of Electors issued to the Republican Party of Alberta. Elections Alberta issued a cease-and-desist order to The Centurion Project on April 29 when they and over eight Edmonton Police Service officers attended a project event and delivered the notice. Justice John Little issued an injunction on April 30 ordering The Centurion Project to remove the database from their website, and for them and the Republican Party of Alberta to stop disseminating any information from the list. Little ordered the groups to provide Elections Alberta with a list of names and contact information for any individuals who may have had access to the database. "I direct the recipient of this letter to immediately cease and desist the use of any list of electors that may be in your possession," the letter to Belanger read. "This includes any partial list of electors, or any information derived from the list of electors."The Centurion Project identified 23 individuals who received a copy of the electoral list and 545 people who had access to it. Individuals who received a copy of the list have 48 hours to sign a declaration that they followed Elections Alberta's directions. .The Centurion Project founder, David Parker, previously said his group obtained the information used in their database legally by scraping the internet, purchasing lists from Canada Post, and extracting from 411. "The Centurion Project relied on a third party to provide us with datasets for this tool," reads their statement."The Centurion Project is aware of recent allegations regarding the app’s data. We have taken action to shutdown the app until we can ensure that the dataset is compliant with Alberta and Federal privacy laws."Cameron Davies, the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, said his party granted a "third party" access to the list to conduct party business on their behalf, but revoked that access after learning of the alleged misuse. Both groups have said they will cooperate with Elections Alberta and the RCMP throughout their investigations.
