Fighting privacy, one policy choice at a time

B.C.'s privacy commissioner released his annual report today - but the CP's focus is on the wrong part of the text. The article emphasizes the admonition that the war against terror shouldn't be used as an excuse to hurt privacy, but it pays short shrift to the fact that privacy is already being attacked through omission:

Loukidelis also noted that his office is suffering from a backlog of files since its budget was cut.

That backlog covers requests under the provincial Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

"An effective access and privacy law requires effective oversight of compliance, which in turn depends on adequate funding for the oversight agency."

It should be obvious that it doesn't matter what privacy laws are (or aren't) on the books: if the agency charged with enforcing them can't afford to do its job, then privacy is at risk. It's probably easier politically to justify budget cuts than direct statutory attacks, but both are equally insidious.