The Home of Commons ethics committee has known as for a halt to the Public Well being Company of Canada‘s plans to gather knowledge from thousands and thousands of cell phones as a option to perceive journey patterns through the COVID-19 pandemic.
The committee handed a movement Monday calling on the federal authorities to droop plans to increase the gathering of cellphone location knowledge till its members are happy the privateness of Canadians is not going to be affected.
Learn extra:
Opposition MPs push to droop public well being officers’ use of cellphone location knowledge
In December, the federal public well being company issued a brand new request for proposals to trace countrywide cell tower-based location knowledge between Jan. 1, 2019 and Could 31, 2023.
The discover mentioned the info have to be correct, accessible and well timed, in addition to making certain privateness and transparency. It should even be stripped of all figuring out data.
The information prompted the ethics committee to carry an emergency assembly throughout Parliament’s winter break, the place Conservative, Bloc Quebecois and NDP MPs raised privateness considerations.
Liberal MPs identified the info being collected is nameless.
The movement handed Monday that urges a pause on the plans was amended by MPs and had cross-party assist.
Learn extra:
Canada’s privateness watchdog probing well being officers’ use of cellphone location knowledge
Conservative committee member John Brassard, the ethics critic for his celebration, mentioned the movement means the prime minister ought to now droop the proposal to increase the gathering of thousands and thousands of individuals’s mobile-phone knowledge.
“We nonetheless have vital considerations what safety protocols and measures have been put in place to guard privateness after they secretly collected the mobility knowledge of 33 million Canadians,” he mentioned.
The Public Well being Company of Canada, which didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark Monday, has beforehand mentioned that location knowledge from cellphone towers could be stripped of private identifiers.
It mentioned it has additionally taken recommendation from privateness and ethics consultants, together with the privateness commissioner.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
