PERSONAL DATA BYLAWS ASSAILED

Show Restraint On Surveillance Requests,
Privacy Commissioner Urges Municipalities

VANCOUVER -- The Privacy Commissioner in British Columbia is urging
municipalities to show restraint and stop enacting what he describes
as "surveillance bylaws."

David Loukidelis issued a report yesterday that is critical of bylaws
that require certain types of businesses to collect personal
information from customers and then turn over the data to police.

The city of Surrey for example, requires anyone selling pepper spray
to document the name, age, race, height and weight of anyone who
purchases the product and provide the information to police.

Richmond is considering similar provisions for scrap-metal dealers.
Chilliwack wanted to enact a bylaw earlier this year that would
require hydroponic stores to detail all purchases of legal products
such as seeds and light bulbs, as well as personal data about the
customer and send it electronically to police. After receiving
negative publicity, the city said it would wait for the Privacy
Commissioner's report before deciding what to do next.

"Against the clear privacy impact of such bylaws, it is doubtful that
such bylaws are really effective and there are certainly tools that
may more effectively achieve the community safety objectives the
bylaws purport to address," the report says.

Mr. Loukidelis said yesterday that legitimate concerns about marijuana
grow-ops and other criminality in communities should be dealt with by
police. The disclosure of customer information should be left to the
courts to decide on a case-by-case basis.

His report also refers to "rumours" that the RCMP in B.C. have asked
municipalities to pass surveillance-type bylaws, because it is a way
for police to come by more information about potential wrongdoing
without obtaining search warrants.

Mr. Loukidelis wrote to the head of the RCMP in B.C. in February. The
RCMP responded in late July with a letter that did not answer the
question, he said, but asserted it co-operates with communities to
address crime problems. "They did not say no, we won't do this," Mr.
Loukidelis said.

The Union of British Columbia Municipalities has supported this type
of bylaw and lobbied the province successfully to enact the Safety
Standards Act earlier this year. It grants municipalities access to
residential power consumption accounts to try to identify grow-ops.

Richard Taylor, executive director of the UBCM, said he has not had a
chance to review the Privacy Commissioner's report but stressed that
the so-called surveillance bylaws are motivated by the public
interest. "Councils are responding to serious issues of safety in
their communities," he said.

Mr. Loukidelis responded that he is not questioning the good
intentions of the municipalities. But they should not be permitted to
pass bylaws "compelling citizens to give up their privacy in a
wholesale and indiscriminate manner," he said.

"We live in what I understand to be a liberal democracy. There are
long-standing traditions that the state must justify why it is
enacting measures that encroach on your liberties."