Big Data, Open Data Personal Data? Navigate around the Mine Fields to Avoid Unintended Consequences. Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D.

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1 Big Data, Open Data Personal Data? Navigate around the Mine Fields to Avoid Unintended Consequences Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Privacy & Big Data Ins9tute Ryerson University Toronto Sunshine Summit September 22, 2014

2 Openness, Transparency & Accountability: Absolutely Essen9al

3 Governments Must Be Accountable Ci#zens have a right of access to government held informa#on with limited excep#ons; Remember the government is there at the pleasure of the governed not the reverse; Openness and transparency form the bedrock of free and democra#c socie#es: Governments must be held accountable for democracy to work; Government records must be accessible to the public.

4 Transparency It s the Public s Business We do not, and never will, accept the proposijon that the business of the public is none of the public s business. The Honourable Ian ScoM, July, 1985.

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6 Why it Happened I have seen many government organiza2ons with strong policies and training materials in place to convey their policies to staff. However, all too o<en these same organiza2ons have failed to adequately implement these policies. This failure to comply with the records reten2on requirements coupled with a culture of avoiding the crea2on of wriben and electronic records, assists in explaining the apparent paucity of documents rela2ng to the gas plant closures produced by the offices of the former Minister of Energy and the former Premier. Commissioner Cavoukian, Dele2ng Accountability: Record Management Prac2ces of Poli2cal Staff - A Special Inves2ga2on Report, June 5, 2013.

7 Statement by the Minister of Government Services on the Commissioner s Special Report The acjons we are announcing address Dr. Cavoukian's non- legislajve recommendajons 1. Developing a mandatory training program for all poli#cal staff to ensure that staff are fully aware of and trained in their records management obliga#ons; 2. Crea#ng a working group of Premier's Office staff, Cabinet Office staff and Ministry of Government Services staff to clarify and strengthen the government's records reten#on policies and prac#ces so that they can successfully be put into prac#ce; Hon. John Milloy Minister of Government Services, September 4, 2013

8 Statement by the Minister of Government Services on the Commissioner s Special Report (Cont d) 3. Appoin#ng ministers' chiefs of staff and the Premier's chief of staff as the persons accountable for the implementa#on and compliance with records management policies in each of their respec#ve offices and appoin#ng a senior advisor in the Premier's Office to provide advice and guidance to all offices on these issues; and 4. Improving archiving requirements by conduc#ng a review of the archiving schedules. Hon. John Milloy Minister of Government Services, September 4, 2013

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10 Access by Design The 7 Fundamental Principles 1.ProacJve, Not Reac9ve 2. Access Embedded into Design 3. Openness and Transparency = Accountability 4. Fosters CollaboraJon 5. Enhance Efficient Government 6. Make Access Truly Accessible 7. Increase Quality of Informa9on

11 Open Data

12 The Age of Big Data Open Data and Big Privacy Big Data Yes Open Data Yes Personal Data - No

13 The Journal News Gun Map: Open Data vs. Personal Data In 2012, The Journal News published a map showing the home addresses and names of handgun owners in two New York coun#es; The map was constructed with data acquired through Freedom of Informa#on requests; In retalia#on, an independent online blogger published the home addresses and names of the newspaper staff. David Eaves, The Journal News Gun Map: Open vs. Personal Data, Eaves.ca, January 7, 2013.

14 Open Data vs. Personal Data It is cri2cal that this debate not get sloppy. This is not about open data. It is about personally idenjfiable data and what governments should and should not do with it. A great deal of open data has nothing to do with individuals. However, if we allow the two to become synonymous expect a backlash against Open Data. David Eaves, The Journal News Gun Map: Open vs. Personal Data, Eaves.ca, January 7, 2013.

15 Open Data Unless there is good reason to the contrary, data that is not PII should be: Free and open transparent; Easily visible and discoverable; Based on open standards and thus machine- readable and user- friendly; Licenced to permit free re- use and transforma#on by others, enabling far greater par#cipa#on.

16 Components of Open Government Public sector informa9on as a key resource: Op2mal public value working with much broader group of par2cipants par2cipatory government; Proac9ve disclosure Open Data regime: Greater transparency and legi2macy; Use technology to increase ci9zen engagement and collabora9on in making public policy, and provide service back to individuals enabling greater ci2zen par2cipa2on.

17 Resolu9on of Informa9on & Privacy Commissioners Calls for greater openness and transparency are exer2ng pressure on governments to transform their tradi2onal, reac2ve informa2on dissemina2on methods into a mode that facilitates proac2ve disclosure. September 1, _Resolu#on_Final_EN_1.pdf

18 Concluding Thoughts Governments must remain open and accountable transparency is absolutely cri#cal to preserving our freedom; Ci#zens have a right to know what their governments are doing they need access to public data in order to par#cipate meaningfully in society - holding their governments accountable; Make openness and disclosure of government informa#on (not personally iden#fiable data) the default open data, open government!

19 Contact Informa9on Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D. Execu9ve Director Privacy & Big Data Ins9tute Ryerson University 285 Victoria Street Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 Phone: (416) x 3138 ann.cavoukian@ryerson.ca