Privacy watchdogs call for more oversight over voters’ private details
OTTAWA — Canada’s privacy watchdogs are collectively calling on all levels of government to force political parties to disclose any personal information they hold on voters and allow for independent oversight to ensure they are respecting the privacy of the electorate.
In a joint resolution published Monday, Canada’s information and privacy ombudsmen and commissioners say recent events have revealed concerning practices deployed by political parties using digital tools to collect and use personal information — often without their knowledge or consent — to target individuals for political gain.
These increasingly sophisticated big data practices raise new privacy and ethical concerns, the commissioners say, underscoring the need for greater transparency.
“Information about our political views is highly sensitive and it’s clearly unacceptable that federal and provincial political parties are not subject to privacy laws,” federal privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien said in an interview Monday.