Social media allows privacy invasions by government agencies

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Pontiac Perspective  Peter J. Gauthier


Pontiac Perspective  Peter J. Gauthier

Canada has privacy laws to protect the personal information of its citizens from unwarranted intrusions by       governments and private sources. The Privacy Act imposes obligations on some 250 federal government       departments and agencies to respect privacy rights by limiting the collection, use, and disclosure of personal       information. This act also gives        individuals the right to access and request corrections of personal       information about themselves held      by these federal government organizations. To ensure the terms of the Privacy Act are enforced, parliament has created the Office of the Privacy Commissioner to act as an advocate for privacy rights of Canadians and the Privacy Commissioner reports to       parliament (House of Commons and Senate), not to the Prime Minister nor any of his ministers.
Unfortunately, our government has ignored the provisions of the Privacy Act and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. Recently, the Commissioner has discovered that, in 2011, the government and its various departments and agencies had made some 1.2 million requests for information from telecom and social media sources. Beyond these requests has come the discovery that these government agents directly access personal media websites such as Facebook and Twitter. Normally, a request for access to information carried by private     telecoms and social media providers would require a search warrant. At the very least, an individual would be entitled to know what information the    government has on him or her.
The government gives two reasons for this massive invasion of privacy. The first is national security; the government has a duty to protect Canadian citizens. But the extent of intrusion into personal privacy would suggest that there are several hundred thousand terrorists in our midst. The second justification is that much of the personal data on social media is, in fact, public and therefore, not covered by privacy laws.
However, there are some problems with these justifications. First, individuals are, by law, allowed to review all data the government has on them. This is however, impossible due to the vast amount of data and the unwillingness of the government to make available the data it has. The second objection relates to the accuracy of the data. The government is supposed to collect only accurate, verifiable data. However, much data on social media is opinion, guesses and factually incomplete or inaccurate.
Questions that should be answered are: why is this allowed and why is there not a mass protest against these practices? One consideration is that most people do not realize that their use of communications technology and social media leaves a trail that can be picked up by sophisticated data collection techniques. The other reason is that most people believe they have nothing to hide and fail to recognize that elaborate cross-reference         techniques allow manipulation of public opinion and biased presentation of government policies.
In short, the massive invasion of our privacy made possible by modern   communications technology should be checked. The government must be held accountable for its actions.