Blog Archive (Year: 2015)
Privacy Impact Assessments
A Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is a process that enables organizations to be proactive in ensuring that a project, program or process is planned or designed in such a way that mitigates or eliminates privacy impacts. What is a privacy impact? A privacy impact is when there are inadequate safeguards to protect information/personal health information,... read more
Snooping: When Will People Learn?
Before being appointed Commissioner, my reading, studying and listening to the media caused me to really be concerned about staff snooping into personal information (PI) or personal health information (PHI) when there was no need to be looking. Before being appointed, I attended a conference where a speaker on security said the greatest problem for... read more
Surveillance in Personal Care Homes: A Case Study
We often get questions from those working in personal care homes and family members of the residents about the use of hidden video surveillance. So we thought we would share some of our thoughts on the issue. Imagine this scenario: Family members of Jane, an elderly woman with dementia, suspect that she is being mistreated... read more
How to Conduct an Effective Search for Records
So you have received an access to information request and you know it is not going to be easy to locate responsive records. What do you do? Here are some tips for you. First: You develop a search strategy and document everything. A search strategy could include: Searching for records in multiple formats (i.e. electronic,... read more