Monday, November 15, 2004

Commissioner to investigate Alberta personal information leak

The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, Frank Work, will investigate the incident in which sensitive personal information of senior civil servants was found at a crime scene in Edmonton. (See: PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law: Incident: Massive leak of personal information in Edmonton, Alberta.)

The Calgary Sun: Province to probe credit leak:

"EDMONTON -- Alberta's privacy commissioner plans today to launch a top-to-bottom investigation into the leak of private staff credit files to a possible identity fraud ring. Frank Work said he'll try to find out if civil servants whose files were compromised will face grilling by U.S. security officials if they try to cross the border.

'Anything's possible,' Work said yesterday.

... The files were collected by Trans Union, a U.S.-based multinational credit-check firm.

...

In a letter to the Sun, senior government staffers voiced the fear that Trans Union might be compelled under the Patriot Act to report the stolen SIN numbers to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which could make it difficult for them to travel in the U.S.... "

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