Note
"June 2003."
"Commissioner Ann Cavoukian gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mary O’Donoghue, Legal Counsel, in the preparation of this paper."
The original document was published on the public website of the Government of Ontario.
© Queen’s Printer for Ontario, 2003. Reproduced with permission.
Summary
Privacy has not taken a back seat in public attention during the past year. National security
and anti-terrorism initiatives by governments have continued to dominate the agenda for
those concerned with privacy protection. The security developments have been a source of
serious concern in many jurisdictions, including Canada, the US, the UK and the European
Union. Major issues include the creation by governments of databases for the tracking of
airline travellers. Under these programs, governments are collecting large amounts of
sensitive personal information, keeping it for lengthy periods and using it for purposes that
are unrelated to the war on terror. Other disturbing developments are proposals by
governments in Canada, the UK and the Philippines to require citizens to obtain national
ID cards, or to require ISPs to retain all customer electronic communications traffic
information for possible use by law enforcement agencies.