Iqaluit (Feb 24/03) - Terrorists may have already won the war, says the woman in charge of privacy in the territory.

Governments have gone haywire taking away the public's right to privacy in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., says privacy commissioner Elaine Keenan-Bengts. - Chris Woodall/NNSL photo

The stampede by governments at all levels to pass legislation that allows intrusions of all sorts into individuals' lives just plays into the goals of terrorism on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, said Nunavut's information and privacy commissioner, Elaine Keenan-Bengts.

"My main message is that this should send up a red flag at the territorial level," Keenan-Bengts said. "Although the tragedy of Sept. 11 may warrant laws to combat terrorism, the temptation to put in those laws should be avoided.

"Those Sept. 11 acts of terrorism will have achieved their desired effect if this government does this."

Keenan-Bengts was making her third annual report to the legislative assembly's standing committee on information and privacy. She has a similar position with the Northwest Territories government.

"Unfortunately, the fear that Sept. 11 evoked has caused a significant abridgement of the public's rights," Bengts said. "Their rights to privacy have been trampled on."

The trampling comes from governments going overboard to collect information -- and make it available for other uses -- far beyond simply seeking movements of terrorists, the privacy commissioner said.

Information that used to be held for 24 hours, is now going to be kept for six years and made available for any reason, Keenan-Bengts said.

"There's an unprecedented collection of information being used for all sorts of other uses: to catch drug dealers, find pedophiles, etc.," Keenan-Bengts said.

If this doesn't seem so bad, "Why not do away with all the other aspects of the Canadian Human Rights Act," the privacy commissioner suggested sarcastically.

People who think they have nothing to hide, should worry, she said.

"Everyone has private information they want to keep private -- bank machine code numbers, personal health information, etc.," Keenan-Bengts said.

What's needed most is not legislation that intrudes private lives but protects them, especially where the private sector can get at that information, the privacy commissioner said.

New laws needed

"I urge the government to take steps to put in privacy protection legislation as it applies to the private sector," Keenan-Bengts said.

To make her point, she noted recent news stories of a Manitoba eye doctor who sold his patient list to an eyeglass retailer; of a Saskatchewan insurance company whose info-packed computer hard drive was stolen; and of hackers breaking into a U.S. data bank of credit card accounts.

"It's mind-boggling how this stolen information is used, from personal identification theft to blackmail," she said. "It's all so subtle. Until your own identification is stolen, it's always someone else's problem," Bengts said.

"I would very much like to see private sector privacy legislation on the legislative agenda," she said.

"Nunavut may be small in population and isolated, but it's not immune from ID theft. It's going to happen," she said.