Ontario to Look at Info Sharing Policy After Deb Collection and Skip Tracing Mess

The minister of transportation and Ontario’s privacy commissioner will meet soon to examine the complex system that allows more than 3,000 companies and organizations access to the addresses and other personal information of the province’s residents.

Privacy commissioner Ann Cavoukian wants the government to limit the scope of the organizations that can access personal information, specifically those who use such information to chase down bad debtors.

The authorized request system, which allows certain organizations access to public information in the transportation ministry databases, came under fire this week after stories in the Star revealed that Imperial Parking (Impark) was giving personal information to its collection agency, Canadian Bonded Collection, Inc., to chase people who owed small debts on unpaid parking tickets. The collection agency was calling people repeatedly, sometimes twice a day, according to several people who told the Star they had been receiving the calls for months.

Impark, which pays about $10 for each database search, has paid about $250,000 this year in an effort to track its debtors.

Impark is just one of more than 3,000 organizations that have contracts with the ministry allowing them to access the addresses (but not phone numbers) of anyone contained in the licence plate or vehicle registration databases. Impark officials said on Tuesday the firm would review its debt collection policy.

For this complete story, please visit Ontario to Look at Info Sharing Policy After Deb Collection and Skip Tracing Mess.