{"id":3813,"date":"2020-03-27T09:40:07","date_gmt":"2020-03-27T13:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=3813"},"modified":"2020-03-27T09:40:07","modified_gmt":"2020-03-27T13:40:07","slug":"a-dramatic-increase-in-coronavirus-deaths-could-make-prime-minister-invoke-rules-to-track-cellphone-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=3813","title":{"rendered":"A &#8216;dramatic increase&#8217; in coronavirus deaths could make Prime Minister invoke rules to track cellphone data"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\">A &#8216;dramatic increase&#8217; in coronavirus deaths could make Prime Minister invoke rules to track cellphone data<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/38FjWmyqugWwchkvBk1.KQ--~A\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO2ZpPWZpbGw7dz04NDtoPTg0\/https:\/\/media-mbst-pub-ue1.s3.amazonaws.com\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2020-01\/ce2dd2c0-33dd-11ea-bb9f-aeb179efe042\" alt=\"\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/author\/shruti-shekar\">Shruti Shekar<\/a>Telecom &amp; Tech Reporter<a href=\"http:\/\/ca.finance.yahoo.com\/\">Yahoo Finance Canada<\/a>March 26, 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure><iframe src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets\/follow_button.html?screen_name=shruti_shekar&amp;show_screen_name=false&amp;show_count=false\"><\/iframe><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/ny\/api\/res\/1.2\/L0Piz9BrJL0SrQ6QTgr7Gw--~A\/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw\/https:\/\/media-mbst-pub-ue1.s3.amazonaws.com\/creatr-images\/2020-03\/6a583c50-6f91-11ea-bffa-0a1e63d2154e\" alt=\"El primer ministro canadiense, Justin Trudeau, se dirige a canadienses sobre la pandemia de COVID-19 desde Rideau Cottaga en Ottawa, Canad\u00e1, el jueves 26 de marzo de 2020. (Sean Kilpatrick\/The Canadian Press v\u00eda AP)\"\/><figcaption>ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In\n an effort to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Prime Minister \nJustin Trudeau has invoked the Quarantine Act requiring those returning \nfrom abroad to self-isolate. Ontario\u2019s former information and privacy \ncommissioner says if deaths increase exponentially the government could \nenact measures to track cellphone data to further limit the spread.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s\n say the number of COVID-19 [deaths] in Toronto or Ontario tripled. \nMaybe they would use that as the excuse or a reason needed to invoke \nit,\u201d Ann Cavoukian said in an interview.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\n don\u2019t know because I don\u2019t want to think about it. I don\u2019t want my mind\n to go there. But I would think a dramatic increase would possibly get \nthem doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As\n of March 26, there are a total of 13 deaths reported in Ontario that \nare related to the coronavirus; there are 35 deaths in the country. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During\n a press conference on March 25, Trudeau indicated that the government \nwas \u201cnot taking measures\u201d like collecting anonymous cellphone data to \ntrack the spread of the virus.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\n recognize in an emergency situation we need to take certain steps that \nwouldn\u2019t be taken in a non-emergency situation, but that is not \nsomething we are looking at now,\u201d Trudeau said. \u201cBut all options are on \nthe table to do what is necessary to keep Canadians safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cavoukian said that Trudeau said nothing was off the table because he is aware of these rules.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere\n are, unfortunately, privacy laws that can be invoked by the government \nthat will enable them to engage in behaviours that wouldn\u2019t be permitted\n under the [privacy] act. All privacy acts have these kinds of emergency\n measures, they\u2019re supposed to be a last resort,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re supposed to be time-limited, clear sunset clauses, full transparency associated with what the government is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cavoukian\n said that she didn\u2019t think we were at that point yet for the prime \nminister to invoke rules and said \u201cwe should never get to that point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen\n you are collecting all the personal information of citizens that just \nencroaches upon their freedom without privacy,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Toronto Mayor John Tory initially said the city was collecting anonymous location data already, as first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/thelogic.co\/news\/city-of-toronto-gathering-cellphone-location-data-from-telecoms-in-bid-to-slow-spread-of-covid-19-tory\/\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Logic,<\/a> but later retracted his statements. A spokesperson clarified in an email that Toronto was not collecting any data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bell,\n Telus, Rogers, and Shaw Communications\u2019 Freedom Mobile confirmed in \nemailed statements that they have not been approached by the City of \nToronto to gather cellphone data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesse Hirsh, president of Metaviews, said in an interview that these measures should have already been invoked.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m\n surprised that they have not already collected anonymized location \n<\/p>\n\n\n<p>[data]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> because given that both the federal government and the provincial\n government over the last few days have been escalating language around \nvoluntary self-isolation, this would be one way to verify and find \nevidence instead of the government guessing,\u201d he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d\n rather the government instead of guessing that people are or are not \ncomplying. I\u2019d rather that they have accurate evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He\n added that collecting this data raises privacy concerns but they\u2019re \n\u201cminor privacy concerns\u201d as this data is helpful in terms of informing \npublic health policy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hirsh\n noted that if the government drafted policy they would be able to work \nwith the Privacy Commissioner to ensure the protection of the data and \nhow it would be used.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe can have our cake and eat it too,\u201d he said. \u201cThe expertise exists within the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stephanie\n Carvin, a security expert and assistant professor at Carleton \nUniversity, doesn\u2019t think these measures will be taken any time soon and\n most likely would be taken at a later date when things have restored \nback to normalcy.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cYou would almost want to implement something like this if the situation improved and we had an open society again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s\n say if you were able to flatten that curve and then over a period of 18\n months, you\u2019re waiting, and all of a sudden there are flare-ups in the \ncountry and you want to contain it. That\u2019s when something more targeted \nmight be useful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Carvin\n indicated that even if the government were to take these measures it \nwould require a lot of moving parts and individuals to get on board to \nmake it happen.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cPeople think that there\u2019s some kind of switch we can flick, and it\u2019s not that easy,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She\n also added that even if the government were able to track the data, \nthey would have to be explicit in terms of what they were collecting and\n how it was to be used.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just not clear to me, how that would be done, by who, under what circumstances,\u201d she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A &#8216;dramatic increase&#8217; in coronavirus deaths could make Prime Minister invoke rules to track cellphone data Shruti ShekarTelecom &amp; Tech ReporterYahoo Finance CanadaMarch 26, 2020 In an effort to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=3813\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2136,560],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3813"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3814,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3813\/revisions\/3814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}