The federal watchdog is calling on the RCMP to better assess the privacy implications of commercial monitoring and monitoring services before using them.
In a report released Thursday, Privacy Commissioner Philippe Dufresne also recommended that the Mounties be more transparent with Canadians about the collection of personal information through open source collections. There is.
Mr. Dufresne investigated the RCMP’s Project Wide Awake, which uses third-party services to collect personal information from sources such as social media, the dark corners of the internet, location-based applications, and paid-access databases. .
RCMP uses data to investigate potential crimes, locate missing persons, identify suspects, detect threats at public events, and ensure awareness during unfolding scenarios. use, the report says.
Dufresne expressed particular concern about the RCMP’s contract with U.S. company Babel Street for Babel X services.
The report says the Mounties did not adequately verify whether the personal information provided to the RCMP by Babel X and its data providers was collected in accordance with Canadian privacy laws.
“Policing is an important and complex task that requires effective tools designed for today’s digital environment,” the report states.
“To ensure that the fundamental right to privacy is respected, it is essential to rigorously review third-party services that impact privacy.”
The report says the RCMP has been “not proactive” in implementing the commissioner’s recommendations.
These recommendations include the RCMP to stop collecting personal information through Babel contained the required content.
“Therefore, this matter remains unresolved and violations and violations of Canadians’ privacy rights may continue,” the report said.
Dufresne’s office said greater scrutiny of the service and greater transparency “supports public trust in our police forces and allows the RCMP to carry out its important mission of public interest in a way that protects privacy.” “I will make it happen.”
This is not the first time the RCMP’s use of new technology has run afoul of federal privacy laws.
In June 2021, Mr. Dufresne’s predecessor, Daniel Therrien, discovered that the RCMP was violating the law by using state-of-the-art facial recognition software to collect personal information.
Therrien said there were serious and systemic failures in ensuring the RCMP complied with privacy laws before collecting information from the U.S. company Clearview AI.
Clearview AI’s technology allows us to collect vast numbers of images from a variety of sources to help law enforcement, financial institutions, and other clients identify people.
Amid concerns about Clearview AI, the RCMP has created an internal program aimed at evaluating collection technologies for compliance with privacy laws.
However, the program’s review of Babel A comprehensive assessment was not included, the Privacy Commissioner’s report said.
“We therefore cannot conclude that the personal information that the RCMP continues to collect from the wide range of data sources available through Babel X complies with privacy laws,” the commissioner said.
RCMP had no immediate comment on the commissioner’s report.
