Privacy watchdog troubled by 'explosion' of information breaches
Last Updated: Tuesday, June 30, 2009 | 7:03 PM CT
CBC News
Related
Internal Links
Video
- Lachlan Madill reports: Privacy watchdog troubled by 'explosion' of information breaches (Runs: 2:08)
- Play: QuickTime »
- Play: Real Media »
The Saskatchewan agency overseeing how government handles personal information reported Tuesday that the province needs to clean up its act.
Gary Dickson, the Saskatchewan information and privacy commissioner, reported that his office handled 62 complaints of a privacy breach in 2008, up from just two investigations in 2004.
"This explosion in the volume of breach of privacy complaints … constitutes the single most significant change in our caseload," Dickson said on Tuesday.
His 2008-09 report released Tuesday highlights some of the cases he examined.
"We dealt with inappropriate sharing of personal health information by an assortment of health professionals," Dickson said. "We had a case where an employer shared a psychological assessment with a number of other people who had no business seeing that information. We had employment and financial information provided to the wrong person. We had the personal health information of patients exposed to the world via an internet link."
Dickson also reported that he failed to meet his own goals for resolving complaints taken to his office.
He said he does not have enough staff to handle a backlog of files, some of which date to 2004.
Share Tools
Latest Saskatchewan News Headlines
- Body found following Glaslyn, Sask., house fire
- One person is dead following a house fire in northwest Saskatchewan. more »
- Reserve population grew 16%, census says
- Saskatchewan's First Nations reserves saw a big population jump over the last five years, according to the 2011 federal census. more »
- SIAST to launch mining program
- People who want to work in the province's burgeoning mining sector will soon be able to go to the Saskatchewan Institute of Applied Science and Technology for training. more »
- Suspect in Fort Qu'Appelle homicide arrested
- Police in Regina have arrested a man wanted in connection with the stabbing death of another man in Fort Qu'Appelle, Sask., in early December. more »
Top News Headlines
- U.S. bank reforms could hurt Canadians, Flaherty fears
- Canada's finance minister and the governor of the Bank of Canada have formally complained to their American counterparts that proposed banking reforms could harm Canadian banks, business, investors and the government itself. more »
- CBC digital music service launches today

- CBC is diving into the world of online music with the goal of providing listeners access to their favourite tunes, and a way to discover new artists and connect with fellow music fans. more »
- Ontario teachers' union calls for classroom Wi-Fi ban
- Ontario's Catholic schoolteachers are calling for hardwire instead of Wi-Fi in classrooms. more »
- Whitney Houston was found unconscious underwater, police say
- Whitney Houston was underwater and apparently unconscious in a bathtub at the Beverly Hilton Hotel when found, Beverly Hills police said Monday. more »
- Highway crash near Estevan kills 1
- Suspect in Fort Qu'Appelle homicide arrested
- Reserve population grew 16%, census says
- Brawl at house party sends 3 to hospital
- Body found following Glaslyn, Sask., house fire
- MS patient advocates for better follow-up care
- SIAST to launch mining program
- Culinary pros visit Saskatoon
- Regina mayor to reveal if he will run again

