Metrolinx to review Presto privacy policy
Provincial transit agency considers reform after Star story revealed police have accessed travel records without a warrant
thestar.com
By BEN SPURR
June 5, 2017
Metrolinx has launched a formal review of its privacy policies after the Star revealed the transit agency has been sharing Presto fare card users’ trip information with the police.
“Trust me, we are taking this very seriously,” said Mary Martin, Metrolinx’s general counsel and chief privacy officer, whose department is leading the review.
“We’re going to really look at the issue extremely thoroughly to make sure that we’ve got it right.”
So far this year Metrolinx, the provincial crown corporation in charge of the Presto system, has received 26 requests from law enforcement for fare card users’ travel records, which show the time and location that a customer tapped their Presto card as part of a trip.
The agency granted 12 of them - six related to missing persons’ cases and six related to criminal investigations connected to the transit system.
In only two of the cases did police present a warrant in order to access the personal data. Both instances were related to criminal probes.
Experts and advocates have criticized the practice as a potential violation of transit users’ privacy. In interviews with the Star they said that in order to improve public accountability Metrolinx should publish a policy explaining exactly under what conditions it will share customers’ travel data with the police.
They also recommended that Metrolinx commit to regularly publishing aggregate statistics about how many requests for travel records it receives from law enforcement and how often it complies.
Martin wouldn’t commit to making such changes, but said Metrolinx will consider them as part of its review.
She defended the policy of not always asking the police for warrants however, noting that the Ontario Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act doesn’t mandate that a court order is necessary.
According to the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, whether Metrolinx asks for a warrant is up to the transit agency’s discretion.
Asked how the agency determines whether a warrant is needed, Martin said there was no hard and fast rule.
“If the request were, let’s say, we thought it was overly broad, that would be concerning to us,” she said.
“We have required them in circumstances like that. But in other circumstances we thought it was not as important.”
Experts told the Star that not asking for a warrant in a suspected missing persons case is likely acceptable for safety reasons, but questioned why Metrolinx doesn’t always do so in criminal cases.
Ann Cavoukian, who served three terms as Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner, welcomed Metrolinx’s review.She said she was “appalled” by the revelations in the Star story.
“If I was still commissioner, I would say they would have to get a court order,” she said in an interview.
“This is very sensitive information, and they shouldn’t be sharing it without a warrant.”
Cavoukian said it was vital that Metrolinx tighten its policies around disclosure before the TTC completes its migration to the Presto fare card system.
More than 2.5 million Presto cards are already in use across 11 transit agencies in the GTHA and Ottawa, including GO Transit, OC Transpo, and the Hamilton Street Railway.
The number of users, along with the amount of personal data Metrolinx collects, is expected to grow significantly once most of the TTC’s 1.8 million daily riders adopt the fare card. Toronto’s transit agency plans to discontinue older forms of payment like tickets and tokens sometime next year in favour of Presto.
A Metrolinx spokesperson said she couldn’t provide a firm timeline for when the agency would complete its privacy review, but estimated it would be a matter of weeks.
