International Law

Privacy Commissioner to look into pollster's use of gun registry info

There is a fuss brewing in some circles about the RCMP hiring a polling firm to survey gun owners about the national firearms registry. The issue is that personal information about gun owners has been transferred to EKOS research.

I don't see the problem here, as long as EKOS is trustworthy and there is a robust agreement between the RCMP and EKOS. Government departments (and businesses) have to, from time to time, hire consultants to do specialized work that involves personal information. As long as that work is not inconsistent with the purposes for which the information was originally collected, I don't see an invasion of privacy.

See: CBC News - Canada - Pollster's use of gun registry details to be reviewed.

Full post as published by The Canadian Privacy Law Blog on September 25, 2009 (boomark / email).