Teresa Scassa - Blog

Tuesday, 31 October 2017 12:23

Privacy and public transit usage: comments on Metrolinx' revisions to privacy policy

Written by  Teresa Scassa
Rate this item
(2 votes)

Metrolinx is the Ontario government agency that runs the Prestocard service used by public transit authorities in Toronto, Ottawa and several other Ontario municipalities. It ran into some trouble recently after the Toronto Star revealed that the organization shared Prestocard data from its users with police without requiring warrants (judicial authorization). The organization has now published its proposals for revising its privacy policies and is soliciting comment on them. (Note: Metrolink has structured its site so that you can only view one of the three proposed changes at a time and must indicate your satisfaction with it and/or your comments before you can view the next proposal. This is problematic because the changes need to be considered holistically. It is also frankly annoying).

The new proposals do not eliminate the sharing of rider information with state authorities without a warrant. Under the new proposals, information will be shared without a warrant in certain exigent circumstances. It will also be shared without a warrant “in other cases, where we are satisfied it will aid in an investigation from which a law enforcement proceeding may be undertaken or is likely to result.” The big change is thus apparently in the clarity of the notice given to users of the sharing – not the sharing itself.

This flabby and open-ended language is taken more or less directly from the province’s Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA), which governs the public sector’s handling of personal information. As a public agency, Metrolinx is subject to FOIPPA. It is important to note that the Act permits (but does not require) government entities to share information with law enforcement in precisely the circumstances outlined in the policy. However, by adapting its policy to what it is permitted to do, rather than to what it should do, Metrolinx is missing two important points. The first is that the initial outrage over its practices was about information sharing without a warrant, and not about poor notice of such practices. The second is that doing a good job of protecting privacy sometimes means aiming for the ceiling and not the floor.

Location information is generally highly sensitive information as it can reveal a person’s movements, activities and associations. Police would normally need a warrant to obtain this type of information. It should be noted that police are not relieved of their obligations to obtain warrants when seeking information that raises a reasonable expectation of privacy just because a statute permits the sharing of the information. It would be open to the agency to require that a warrant be obtained prior to sharing sensitive customer location data. It is also important to note that some courts have found that the terms of privacy policies may actually alter the reasonable expectation of privacy – particularly when clear notice is given. In other words, even though we might have a reasonable expectation of privacy in location data about our movements, a privacy policy that tells us clearly that this information is going to be shared with police without a warrant could substantially undermine that expectation of privacy. And all of this happens without any ability on our part to negotiate for terms of service,[1] and in the case of a monopoly service such as public transportation, to choose a different provider.

Metrolinx no doubt expects its users to be comforted by the other changes to its policies. It already has some safeguards in place to minimize the information provided to police and to log any requests and responses. They plan to require, in addition, a sign off by the requesting officer and supervisor. Finally, they plan to issue voluntary transparency reports as per the federal government’s Transparency Reporting Guidelines. Transparency reporting is certainly important, as it provides a window onto the frequency with which information sharing takes place. However, these measures do not correct for an upfront willingness to share sensitive personal information without judicial authorization – particularly in cases where there are no exigent circumstances.

As we move more rapidly towards sensor-laden smart cities in which the consumption of basic services and the living of our daily lives will leave longer and longer plumes of data exhaust, it is important to reflect not just on who is collecting our data and why, but on the circumstances in which they are willing to share that data with others – including law enforcement officials. The incursions on privacy are many and from all directions. Public transit is a basic municipal service. It is also one that is essential for lower-income residents, including students.[2]Transit users deserve more robust privacy protections.

Notes:

[1] A recent decision of the Ontario Court of Appeal does seem to consider that the inability to negotiate for terms of service should be taken into account when assessing the impact of those terms on the reasonable expectation of privacy. See: R. v. Orlandis-Habsburgo.

[2] Some universities and colleges have U-Pass agreements which require students to pay additional fees in exchange for Prestocard passes. Universities and colleges should, on behalf of their students, be insisting on more robust privacy.



[

Login to post comments

Canadian Trademark Law

Published in 2015 by Lexis Nexis

Canadian Trademark Law 2d Edition

Buy on LexisNexis

Electronic Commerce and Internet Law in Canada, 2nd Edition

Published in 2012 by CCH Canadian Ltd.

Electronic Commerce and Internet Law in Canada

Buy on CCH Canadian

Intellectual Property for the 21st Century

Intellectual Property Law for the 21st Century:

Interdisciplinary Approaches

Purchase from Irwin Law