Cabinet yesterday reintroduced a bill exempting itself from a ban on third party use of Canadians’ personal information without consent. A previous bill introduced in 2020 lapsed in the last Parliament, as federal agencies scooped data on millions of cellphone users..“It addresses technical stakeholder feedback about specific provisions of the former proposal,” Mark Schaan, associate assistant deputy industry minister, told reporters. Schaan did not identify which lobbyists had input in the bill..Bill C-27 An Act To Enact The Consumer Privacy Protection Act, restricts commercial use of personal information without permission. The act defines commercial activity as “any particular transaction, act or conduct or any regular course of conduct that is of a commercial character including the selling, bartering or leasing” of names and addresses..“Any organization must obtain an individual’s valid consent for the collection, use or disclosure of the individual’s personal information,” states the bill. “The individual’s consent must be obtained at or before the time of the collection of the personal information.”.However, the bill exempts government institutions and permits the bulk sale of anonymized data. The House of Commons ethics committee in a May 3 report urged regulation of the sale of cellphone customers’ mobility data even if individuals cannot be personally identified..Parliament must “regulate the activities of private companies in the collection, use, sharing, storage and destruction of Canadian mobility data and the government ensure private companies have obtained meaningful consent from their customers for the collection of such data,” said a committee report..Committee hearings followed disclosure the Public Health Agency contracted with telecom providers for mobility data on millions of cellphone users. The agency justified data collection in the name of monitoring lockdown compliance..“I had not seen anything on this scale with such a large number of individuals’ mobility data being accessed without even any notice to the individual,” Ann Cavoukian, former Ontario privacy commissioner, testified at February 10 hearings. “Forget about consent, but just notice.”.“At the very least the government should have provided notice to the public saying, ‘This is what we’re doing, here’s why we’re doing it, we’re going to track your movements in this COVID pandemic world,’” said Cavoukian. “Is that sufficient reason? Would people have felt the return was sufficient?”.“We have got to have some debate about these issues,” said Cavoukian. “The Public Health Agency cannot just decide to do that without telling anybody. That’s what I object to the most, the total lack of transparency.”
