Article content continued

“An overwhelming majority of Canadians are concerned about how the digital revolution is infringing on their right to privacy. They do not feel protected by laws that have no teeth and organizations that are held to no more than non-binding recommendations.”

Therrien said he won’t wait for legislative changes, and will begin to improve privacy protections by:

— Initiating more investigations on his own, rather than waiting for public complaints, given that his office is often better placed to identify emerging problems;

— Specifying four key elements that must be highlighted in privacy notices, which are now often incomprehensible: the information being collected, who it is being shared with, the reasons for collection, use and sharing, and the risk of harm to people;

— Spelling out information collection and handling practices that should be prohibited because they’re likely to cause significant harm to people.

Therrien’s latest report comes amid almost daily headlines about digital breaches of personal information due to lax practices by companies and government agencies.

in it, the commissioner describes lapses involving the information-sharing provisions of controversial anti-terrorism legislation, a federal web tool intended to stimulate discussion of electoral reform and the dysfunctional Phoenix payroll system.

In the attempted suicide case, Therrien’s investigation found the sensitive information was uploaded to the national police database known as CPIC by the Toronto police service, which had responded when the woman called 911.