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CRTC Posts Private Data To Public Website
Though that's ok, because their privacy policy says so...

There's no love lost between consumers and the CRTC, the Canadian regulatory agency that thus far has done little to stop Bell Canada's anti-competitive attacks on independent ISPs in the country. Consumers are a little extra annoyed with the agency this week for posting their personal information online. According to posts in our Canadian broadband forum, complaints to the CRTC about Bell Canada's latest move are being posted in their entirety to the CRTC website, without scrubbing personal e-mail addresses and phone numbers. According to the CRTC privacy statement that's standard procedure, and consumers should expect no privacy, whatsoever:

quote:
Note that all information you provide as part of a public process, except information granted confidentiality, whether sent by postal mail, facsimile, e-mail or through the Commission’s website at www.crtc.gc.ca, becomes part of a publicly accessible file and will be posted on the Commission’s website. This information includes your personal information, such as your full name, e-mail address, postal/street address, telephone and facsimile number(s), and any other personal information you provide.
Of course the CRTC may want to change their procedures, given that such lists create a pretty delicious target for scammers, spammers and identity thieves. It also would seemingly deter comment contribution. Something tells us they don't treat the information of their corporate constituents with the same disregard.

Customers are protesting Bell Canada's latest plan to impose CBB (consumption-based billing) charges on wholesalers, in order to prevent them from offering un-throttled competition to Bell's throttled DSL service. While users should read the fine print before clicking "I agree," it also wouldn't be difficult for the CRTC to automatically screen e-mail addresses and phone numbers.
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AkFubar
Admittedly, A Teksavvy Fan
join:2005-02-28
Toronto CAN.

1 edit

1 recommendation

AkFubar

Member

CRTC Posts Private Data To Public Website

More evidence that the CRTC has become out of date and trails in today's issues that matter most to Canadians. This commission should be fully reviewed with respect to the effectiveness of its present mandate, its operations and its processes (including its respect for the privacy of ordinary Canadians (or lack thereof)).
sensualpoet
join:2004-09-19
Toronto, ON

sensualpoet

Member

Re: CRTC Posts Private Data To Public Website

There is nothing wrong -- in fact, everything right -- about this information being made public. The CRTC "intervention" process is designed to be transparent and public. The whole point is NOT to deliberate entirely behind closed doors but give EVERYONE a chance for a public airing of their views. Entirely consistent with this openness is including in the public documents the submitted details of the submitters.

EdG
@eastlink.ca

EdG

Anon

Re: CRTC Posts Private Data To Public Website

So, where's the openness from the ISP's then?


Mr_Derp
join:2004-11-10
Plainfield, ON

1 edit

1 recommendation

Mr_Derp

Member

CRTC = FAIL

wooooohoo!
I'm very delighted that info I brought to light has become a news story, now let's see if anything actually happens once this becomes a little more publicized.

On another note, this is shameful behaviour coming from a federal organization.

They aren't posting the personal contact information of the lobbyists that are forcing their opinions onto members of the CRTC, so why when it comes to the regular folk did the gov't decide to name names (and your personal contact info)?

The fact that our government values the privacy of employees of major corps more than its citizens is just appalling.

It's quite clear that the current system is designed to dissuade an open exchange of ideas under threat of sharing your personal info with the whole internet.

Not to mention this system is also setup to discourage sharing of opinions from those who may already work in the telecom field, but don't share their feelings with the CRTC because they could face difficulties at work spreading for dissenting opinions.

The current appointed employees of the CRTC should all be terminated and then the CRTC should be restaffed with elected officials chosen by the voting public.
jsb825
Premium Member
join:2003-10-08
Exeter, NH

1 edit

jsb825

Premium Member

Re: CRTC = FAIL

CRTC / FCC = Control by old people wearing depends and have to use the bathroom allot.

Oh wait. I should not say that.. I might get arrested!! lol
Taylor Brown
join:2008-04-29
Russell, ON

Taylor Brown

Member

Re: CRTC = FAIL

ROFL. Mature LOL
88615298 (banned)
join:2004-07-28
West Tenness

88615298 (banned)

Member

The real reason for this

"It also would seemingly deter comment contribution"

that pretty much sums up why they are doing this.

BACONATOR26
Premium Member
join:2000-11-25
Nepean, ON

BACONATOR26

Premium Member

FYI

Well written but there is no Sympatico anymore, it's now Bell Internet.
shepd
join:2004-01-17
Kitchener, ON

shepd

Member

No thanks.

Read the fine print? Uhhh... this is the government, not a leasing agreement.

The government shouldn't have fine print, full stop. They should follow their own damn laws rather than trying to circumvent them. You know, like the ones the Privacy Commissioner made. If the law sucks for the government, too bad.

If you're suggesting the government can make fine print, next thing you'll know your city will make "fine print" on their parking tickets saying they'll repo your car to pay for it.

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

Letters and comments to the FCC are also posted un-scrubbed.

Personally, I think its good that we know who is saying what to policy-makers. Although, the downside of this practice is that people who value privacy highly have to make a choice as to whether to participate in the public process.

Either way: If someone abuses that published information, then go after the abuser, not the entity that is practicing open government.

Mr_Derp
join:2004-11-10
Plainfield, ON

1 recommendation

Mr_Derp

Member

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

"Personally, I think its good that we know who is saying what to policy-makers."

It is good to know who's saying what...

Sadly, those that have the most sway (lobbyists) also don't have their home phone number, address and email address posted for public consumption.

The privacy of the rich should not outweigh that of the common man.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

said by Mr_Derp:

Sadly, those that have the most sway (lobbyists) also don't have their home phone number, address and email address posted for public consumption.
The public did not have to provide anything other than an email address to comment. And even that email address could be a throw-away address if privacy is a concern. The other info was entirely voluntary.

diskace
Retired
Premium Member
join:2002-02-21

1 edit

diskace

Premium Member

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

Unfortunately, this is the result of an email sent to thousands of users who were clearly not informed properly that this is not your average website to submit your comments. Don't get me wrong here, that was a good move but that was done in a rush time and shit happen sometimes...

On another note, CRTC should be more clear on their website instead of putting such important details in the privacy policy. I can understand that the average guy who received the email did not really had the chance/time to check such details.

edit: typo

JGROCKY
Premium Member
join:2005-05-19
Chatham, ON

JGROCKY

Premium Member

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

said by diskace:

Unfortunately, this is the result of an email sent to thousands of users who were clearly not informed properly that this is not your average website to submit your comments. Don't get me wrong here, that was a good move but that was done in a rush time and shit happen sometimes...

On another note, CRTC should be more clear on their website instead of putting such important details in the privacy policy. I can understand that the average guy who received the email did not really had the chance/time to check such details.

edit: typo
Now why did you feel the need to post that?!

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna

El Quintron

Premium Member

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

No matter how lousy CRTC privacy policy may be, I don't regret backing you up.

So for all of my gettin' up in arms about this, I don't place any of the blame at your feet.

Only with our impartial regulator.
18526190 (banned)
join:2009-01-07

18526190 (banned) to diskace

Member

to diskace
said by diskace:

Unfortunately, this is the result of an email sent to thousands of users who were clearly not informed properly that this is not your average website to submit your comments. Don't get me wrong here, that was a good move but that was done in a rush time and shit happen sometimes...

On another note, CRTC should be more clear on their website instead of putting such important details in the privacy policy. I can understand that the average guy who received the email did not really had the chance/time to check such details.

edit: typo
Yeah that was a unneeded bitch slap.

diskace
Retired
Premium Member
join:2002-02-21

diskace

Premium Member

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

Sorry guys, it was not intended to be a bitch slap. I trully hope you understand i am working in the same direction. That being said, you can't deny it was a rush call and rushed things have some downsides...not trying to blame anyone here !

Best regards, DiskACE

Mr_Derp
join:2004-11-10
Plainfield, ON

Mr_Derp to FFH5

Member

to FFH5
Sadly, the fields on the submission form were not marked *optional...
If they were, many would not bother to provide extra info.
Most people did as such because they assume by giving their real info it will ensure their complaint is marked as valid and actually read.

DJMASACRE
join:2008-05-27
Nepean, ON

DJMASACRE

Member

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

said by Mr_Derp:

Sadly, the fields on the submission form were not marked *optional...
If they were, many would not bother to provide extra info.
Most people did as such because they assume by giving their real info it will ensure their complaint is marked as valid and actually read.
I would have not put my real information there anyway even though I should.

anyone who puts their real information anywhere on the Internet should not act so surprised if it gets publicly viewed elsewhere...

why do you think facebook is a big joke. its a webpage for " hello ! look at who I am and how many people I can add as friends while joining invites for retarded countless things"

anyway ..

funchords
Hello
MVM
join:2001-03-11
Yarmouth Port, MA

funchords

MVM

Re: U.S. Federal Communications Commission does the same thing..

said by DJMASACRE:

why do you think facebook is a big joke. its a webpage for " hello ! look at who I am and how many people I can add as friends while joining invites for retarded countless things"
I actually like that Facebook uses real names. I don't really like all the applications that I have to opt-out of one-at-a-time, though.
voiptop
join:2009-02-06

voiptop to Mr_Derp

Member

to Mr_Derp
Phone number to public - it's overkill... But it's good news for telemarketers

ABC easy 123
@mc.videotron.ca

ABC easy 123

Anon

Profile. I know who you are

I can go to the CRTC website and gather all public comments made since the throttle of last year and all the comments since then till the present on similar CRTC filing.

I can make a list of names, addresses, phone numbers, City, Prov and I can profile these peoples political beliefs. Many of the same people I can correlate to their DSLr User name in both the Bell forum and the Teksavvy forum.

I can paint a nice picture with all the info the CRTC made available.

Certain info should not be made available to all.

However, I believe they will argue the telco's want to know. But the telco's shouldn't have this right.

I say treat it like a .ca domain under the privacy option. If someone wants to know who I am, they pay 20$ to the CRTC and the CRTC notifies me of who asked to know who I am.

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna

1 recommendation

El Quintron

Premium Member

Open to abuse

The problem is with the way personally indentifiable information is being treated by the CRTC.

There is nothing wrong with somebody investigating a decision, to ask the CRTC if the canadian public actually submitted a request to have the UBB issue looked into.

The problem is putting the names, phone numbers, and personal email addresses of responders for all to see, and all the ethical issues that brings up.

I'm very happy this got posted as a news item, and thanks to Mr_Derp See Profile for getting us all in the loop.
Robrr
join:2008-04-19

Robrr

Member

Read The Forum Thread

I would simply suggest that everyone goes and reads the forum thread. A lot of information to be gathered that I think is missing from here.

SYNACK
Just Firewall It
Mod
join:2001-03-05
Venice, CA

SYNACK

Mod

On the flip side ...

I am not familiar with their comment submission mechanisms, but are there checks in place to verify authenticity?

For example what prevents someone from commenting under a different persons name/phone number etc.

Just curious.

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna

El Quintron

Premium Member

Re: On the flip side ...

No there isn't if you check the list there's postings from Anon Anon and such.

But if you gave legit information you're all over the net as of... yesterday.

davidl
join:2008-07-11
Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC

davidl

Member

I can't find mine...

...it only goes up to the letter 'A' in the last names.

I worked hard on my scathing comment and I deserve to be published, dammit!
SaveTheNet
join:2009-04-17

4 edits

SaveTheNet

Member

Can't even follow their own rules

I think the most important thing thats being missed.
Is that the CRTC cannot even follow their own rules.

That is the most important part of all this IMHO.

Who would have known, the CRTC should be so quick to not follow their own privacy laws and so freely offer up all this information for all to see, when that isn't required at all.

What some claim, was voluntary fields, were not when the site began and actually mandatory fields.

They enforce their rules as they chose, to what, who and where its applied.

I don't recognize them as having any authority at all.
Above all else, the CRTC has lost more public trust.

dav_ID
Happiness Is What You Make It
join:2001-11-22
Toronto

dav_ID

Member

Re: Can't even follow their own rules

I've been with my ISP for quite a while now, and managed to keep my ehh-mail private and thus get NO SPAM - so If I should start to get any in the near future I'll know its a direct result of the CRTC's action.

I think I'll simply forward all those viagra ads back to the CRTC to show them what they have done to the consumer!

Forcing us to agree to 'their' policy in order to make a submission in regard to something as outrageous as this tariff just amounts to them doing their best to discourage people from complaining while they try to figure out some convoluted logic to allow the UBB tariff that was submitted instead of the Speed Tariff the the CRTC had ordered Bell to submit (for the 3rd time)

El Quintron
Cancel Culture Ambassador
Premium Member
join:2008-04-28
Tronna

El Quintron

Premium Member

Now on the CBC Webpage

»www.cbc.ca/technology/st ··· ent.html