CSIS spy centre’s use of security assessment info troubles privacy czar: letters
OTTAWA — The controversial data-crunching centre run by Canada’s spy agency has long been using personal details gleaned from security clearance forms to help with national security probes — a practice that worries the federal privacy watchdog, newly disclosed letters show.
Privacy and security experts said Friday the revelation about the Canadian Security Intelligence Service’s Operational Data Analysis Centre underscores the need for new safeguards in an age of sophisticated digital sleuthing.
The freshly released correspondence exposes the fact that for at least five years the CSIS data analysis centre has drawn upon private information — provided during security assessments for employment and immigration purposes — to assist with terrorism and espionage investigations.
The Canadian Press used the Access to Information Act to obtain heavily censored copies of the letters between CSIS and the federal privacy commissioner.