Telecoms refuse to release information on private data given to feds

Canada's privacy commissioner says telecom companies are refusing to tell her office how many times they have handed over personal customer information to the federal government without a warrant.

Chantal Bernier, the interim privacy commissioner, said heroffice has repeatedly asked telecom companies to disclose statisticsand the scope of warrantless disclosure of data, to no avail.

"I'm not disputing that there are times when there is no time toget a warrant life is in danger," Bernier said Tuesday.

"What we would like is for those warrantless disclosures tosimply be represented in statistics so that Canadians have an ideaof the scope of the phenomenon."

Bernier said the companies have only provided her office withaggregate data, which shows how many times the telecom industry as a whole gives the government customer information without a warrant.

That data was provided a few years ago, she added.

"We have tried many times. We have sought out information fromthe telecoms to find out," she said. "They've given us verygeneral comments."

Empowering citizens

Bernier said she would like to see statistics published so Canadians know how many times their personal information is given tothe government without a warrant.

"It would give a form of oversight by empowering citizens to seewhat the scope of the phenomenon is."

Last month, the Chronicle Herald newspaper in Halifax reportedthe Canada Border Services Agency alone accessed telecom customerdata almost 19,000 times over one year -- and no warrant was usedmore than 99 per cent of the time.

The law allows Canadian telecom companies and Internet providersto hand over customer information without a court order to helplaw-enforcement investigations.

In January, Bernier's office released a report calling onCommunications Security Establishment Canada the federalgovernment's electronic eavesdropping agency to tell Canadiansmore about what it's doing.

One of the recommendations, intended to bolster protection ofprivacy rights in national security efforts, called on CSEC todisclose annual statistics on cases in which it assists otherfederal agencies with requests for interception, which can includemonitoring of Canadians.

Privacy commissioner investigating Bell

The Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, whichrepresents the industry, said several of its members provided theprivacy commissioner's office with "an aggregate number of lawfulaccess requests" a few years ago.

"It was a one-time exercise and hasn't been repeated since,"spokesman Marc Choma said in an email.

Bernier spoke to reporters after her appearance at a Senatecommittee looking into changes to Bell Canada's privacy policy.

The privacy commissioner's office has received 170 complaints about the way Bell collects and uses its customers' personal information to target online advertisements, she said.

Her office is investigating Bell's privacy policy and Berniersays a finding is expected by the end of the year.

Representatives from Bell are scheduled to appear before the sameSenate committee on Wednesday.