Canada’s privacy commissioner has launched an investigation in to the Trudeau governments tracking software ArriveCAN following complaints about the collecting of personal information for travelers.
“Our office has received and is currently investigating a complaint that raises concerns with respect to the collection of personal information through ArriveCAN and subsequent use of that information,” said the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada in an email dated July 27.
Global News reached out to the privacy commissioner for further comment and information, the privacy watchdog said “given the ongoing investigation and consultations, we do not have further details to provide at this time.”
Technology expert Bianca Wylie reached out to the privacy commissioner, according to to Global News and asked about privacy concerns for the ArriveCAN app. The privacy commissioner responded that they consulted with the government in making recommendations to Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and Canada Border Services Agency when the app was first being developed
The privacy watchdog recommended the government limit the type of data being collected and ensure it was relevant to monitoring and enforcing the governments Covid measures.
Concerns about the type of personal data collected by the ArriveCAN app have been raised by several politicians and legal experts
In June 2020, federal Conservative MPs asked the privacy commissioner to investigate the app and raised concerns they had about the potential misuse of private data. At the time of review the privacy commissioner said they reviewed the app’s privacy conditions and didn’t find any concerns.
Spying on Canadians and travelers isn’t new to federal government and has a record of collecting person data from Canadians without their knowledge and no way to opt out.
It was reveled in December 2021 that PHAC spied on 33 million mobile devices of Canadians without their knowledge to monitor the populations movements during the lockdowns. The data collected was cell tower location data and mobility.
Prior to the ArriveCAN app launch the Trudeau government launched another app, WeatherCAN that was reveled to have tracked and spied on one million Canadians collecting their location data and email addresses..
