‘Throwing open the electronic doors’
p2pnet news view Freedom | Politics:- Canadian privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart is worried about federal tribunals and other “quasi-judicial bodies throwing open the electronic doors by posting names of people online in decisions and other documents,” says the Canwest News Service.
“The open court rule, which is extremely historically important, has now become distorted by the effect of massive search engines so that documents containing all sorts of personal information find themselves searchable worldwide,” she told reporters at a Canadian Bar Association meeting, says the story.
“That wasn’t really the context in which this rule evolved,” she stated.
Stoddart has jurisdiction over federal tribunals such as the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and the Canadian International Trade Tribunal and noted Canada’s courts are also debating the issue,.
She proposed decisions and other documents, “should only identify people by their initials or reversed initials and that tribunal heads omit personal information from their decisions, such as addresses, social insurance numbers or private details about a person or their family members,” says Canwest, also quoting her as stating:
“Something about your past might come up … that doesn’t really need to be known to the world at large.”
“Her comments come at a time when the Supreme Court of Canada is considering whether to post court documents online, the culmination of years of debate whether it would threaten privacy rights in an age of Internet stalkers and identity thieves,” says the story, adding:
“Courts in several provinces are also considering the prospect of e-access to court files, with British Columbia being the first in the country to go ahead with the venture by allowing the public to access the nitty gritty details of court workings.”
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Canwest News Service -Court rulings posted online puts privacy at risk: Commissioner, August 19, 2008
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August 21st, 2008 at 9:22 am
Prentice’s name, if he is ever involved in courts over his treason of Canada, should not be censored and court documents should definitely be posted online.