Before people commit fully to the idea that Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell is a touch paranoid, here’s something to keep in mind: There’s a reasonable chance the privacy commissioner’s investigation into the computer surveillance program that’s made the mayor leery of showing up at municipal hall could wind up generally in his favour.
It’s wouldn’t stretch credulity to see the commissioner agree with Atwell and decide the spyware on his computer goes too far, wasn’t introduced properly and should be curtailed. It would be in keeping with information and privacy commissioner Elizabeth Denham’s previous pronouncements on privacy issues. She is scheduled to report by the end of March. It could turn out to validate at least one of the issues that erupted during the bizarre launch of Atwell’s mayoralty.
Denham does several jobs. She advocates for freedom of information and oversees application of that law. She serves as the registrar of lobbyists. And she also champions personal privacy, while overseeing the protection of that right.
It’s that last hat she’ll be wearing while looking at Saanich. Her record in that role shows that she is not afraid to mix it up with any arm of government. She’s criticized a number of official intrusions into people’s privacy.
The Stanley Cup riot comes to mind. In the wave of outrage after that shameful display, the Insurance Corp. of B.C. offered to use its facial-recognition software to help police scan pictures of rioters and identify them in order to lay charges.
The plan never took hold but Denham made a point of reporting anyway. She said the software is designed to detect driver’s licence fraud and that’s the only permissible use. Anything else would need a court order. She also determined ICBC never notified customers that they use the software, something that needed to be done. And she recommended assorted changes to protect privacy, all of which were accepted.
She also started a long argument about criminal-record checks, noting that they are “highly invasive” and include adverse information about people who have never been charged with anything. She focused on the fact that 85 per cent of the B.C. government’s workforce has to undergo criminal record checks, and recommended some curbs on how the information is used.
On the same theme, she delved into police information checks in general and didn’t like what she found. Sensitive personal information about people’s private lives, none of it tested in court, was being widely disseminated.
She has objected in the past to automated licence-plate recognition technology. She noted concerns about its use as a surveillance tool and objected to the potential for retention of information not related to criminal investigations for other uses later. “Collecting personal information for law-enforcement purposes does not extend to retaining information on the suspicionless activities of citizens just in case it may be useful in the future.”
After almost five years in office, she’s been consistently skeptical about officialdom’s need for more surveillance. And she’s won more arguments than she’s lost.
Also working in Atwell’s favour is a previous commission ruling made before Denham arrived there. Covert spyware was installed on a University of British Columbia employee’s computer out of concerns about his activities. The commission ruled the university was out of line. It’s not directly comparable to Saanich, but it’s in the neighbourhood.
Denham started the investigation on her own authority, likely because Atwell’s concerns raise some appealing issues for her office to do with snooping, privacy and consent for online surveillance.
The municipal explanation for the spyware is that although it was installed after the election, it arose from a security audit last spring that recommended installation on various terminals.
Saanich said it was installed on the computer in the mayor’s office to protect him.
The municipality said he was notified but didn’t return the form. Atwell said he was tipped about the program by some employees and then complained to Saanich police, who reported Jan. 13 that there was no basis for charges.
That prompted the mayor to complain about his own police department, to the Police Complaint Commissioner.
The IT argument is only one of the controversies that Atwell has started, but don’t be surprised if he gets validated to some extent when Denham reports.
