Skip to content

Alberta privacy commissioner calls mounting reports of lost data ’startling’

Alberta’s privacy commissioner says his office is being swamped with reports about personal information being lost or misplaced by various organizations in the province.

EDMONTON — Alberta’s privacy commissioner says his office is being swamped with reports about personal information being lost or misplaced by various organizations in the province.

Under Alberta’s Personal Information Act that took effect in May 2010, it’s mandatory to report security breaches involving personal data.

Commissioner Frank Work says since last spring, his office has received more than 90 reports of trouble.

Work says the problems include T-4 slips being sent to wrong addresses, or personal information being emailed or faxed to wrong numbers

But he also says personal files are also being stolen from computers and he wonders if there are far more breaches than his office is hearing about.

Work says the number of organizations that are losing information belonging to clients and customers is startling.