Coffee Crone: Taming Coffee Blog

December 31 2007

It's No Secret

I don't have any big secrets. I have no hidden past. I have no newsworthy, or in any other way exceptional, plans for the future. That being said, I still value my privacy.

Unfortunately, I seem to have less of that this year than last.

Last week, Privacy International released The 2007 International Privacy Ranking. It seems that whilst in Canada we still have some degree of privacy, we have dropped in the ratings over the past year from "Adequate safeguards against abuse" to "Some safeguards but weakened protections."

Out of 47 countries surveyed, only 12 shared this ranking, and only one, Greece, scored higher. The US and the UK both were ranked as being "Endemic surveillance societies." They colour that black on their privacy map, and there sure seems like a whole lot of that colour these days. The areas of the map that are gray were not surveyed.

The Canadian report can be found here. The highlights Privacy International identifies are:

Privacy not mentioned in Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but courts have recognised the right to a reasonable expectation of privacy
Statutory rules at the federal level (public and private sectors) and provincial laws apply to sectors and governments
Federal commission is widely recognised as lacking in powers such as order-marking powers, and ability to regulate trans-border data flows
Variety of provincial privacy commissioners have made privacy-enhancing decisions and taken cases through the courts over the past year (particularly Ontario)
Court orders required for interception and there is no reasonable alternative method of investigation
Video surveillance is spreading despite guidelines from privacy commissioners
Highly controversial no-fly list, lacking legal mandate
Continues to threaten new policy on online surveillance
Increased calls for biometric documents to cater for U.S. pressure, while plans are still unclear for biometric passports

The US report is scarier. It can be found here.

I have no intention of ending 2007 on such a negative note, so you'll just have to check back sometime around midnight for a happier me. I promise, it won't be cupping notes on my latest coffee find.