|
Background of the Complaint
The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (the IPC) received a telephone call from a newspaper reporter about a possible breach of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (the Act) by the Ministry of the Attorney General (the Ministry). The reporter explained that personal information pertaining to a bail hearing had been faxed to him from one of the Ministry's Victim/Witness Assistance Program (V/WAP) offices. The following day, the IPC received a letter from the Ministry regarding the incident. The Ministry advised the IPC that it was in the process of conducting an investigation, and the Ministry subsequently provided the IPC with a written chronology of the events.
Summary of the Ministry's Chronology of Events
The same day he received the faxed document, the reporter contacted the Ministry's Communications Branch. The reporter advised that he had received the fax, and explained that it contained confidential personal information, including health information and information concerning previous convictions of an identified young offender who was involved in an ongoing proceeding. The reporter recognized that the record had been faxed to his office in error, and stated that he intended to write a news story about it. The reporter told the Ministry that he had already advised the IPC about the disclosure.
The Ministry determined that the records at issue were being faxed between two V/WAP offices. As a result of a dialling error, the records were sent to the reporter's fax number. The records were accompanied by a standard fax cover sheet advising the recipient that the information may be privileged and confidential and that if the fax was received in error, the recipient should notify the sender immediately by telephone to arrange for the return or destruction of the records.
The Acting Director of the V/WAP Program personally retrieved the records from the reporter and received his assurance that no copies had been made by him.
The following day, the Ministry sent a private and confidential letter to the identified young offender, explaining what had occurred and confirming that the Ministry had retrieved the records from the reporter.
The Ministry then established an internal committee to review its V/WAP faxing policies and procedures.
|