This editorial appeared in the Japan Times: The intentions behind the Personal Information Protection Law, which went into effect in April 2005, are good, but it has contributed to a tendency for organizations to withhold benign information that has significantly useful social value. Ms. Mizuho Fukushima, state minister in charge of consumer affairs, who has…
Category: Non-U.S.
AU: Secret personnel records back at DFAT
Philip Dorling reports: The Community and Public Sector Union has called for two independent inquiries into the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s system of secret personnel files. DFAT staff have expressed concern that the department has quietly re-established a system of secret personnel files similar to a highly controversial system, known as the ”X-files”,…
Ca: E-passports won’t include fingerprints
Althia Raj reports: OTTAWA — The federal privacy watchdog has rejected Passport Canada’s plan to embed fingerprints and iris scans in electronic passports. In a review of the project, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner told the passport office not to include new biometric information on a radio frequency chip encoded in e-passports. “The more…
Wheat board couldn’t explain why they shared personal info
Steve Rennie reports: The Canadian Wheat Board, apparently for no reason, shared “sensitive information” about farmers with companies that handle grain, says a newly released document. An internal audit completed last year says the wheat board couldn’t explain why it sent farmers’ “confidential personal financial data” to the taxman and so-called handling agents. “The CWB…