Metrolinx continues to share Presto users’ data without requiring warrants
Thestar.com
Feb. 4, 2019
Ben Spurr
Law enforcement officers are increasingly seeking access to personal information stored on transit riders’ Presto fare cards, with requests for the data spiking by 47 per cent in 2018 compared to the year before.
And while Metrolinx, the provincial agency that controls Presto, only acceded to a minority of the requests, in 22 instances related to law enforcement investigations or suspected offences the agency divulged card users’ information without requiring a warrant or court order, a practice that has troubled rights groups since its was first exposed by the Star two years ago.
Metrolinx says it received 94 requests for access to Presto users’ personal information last year, compared to 64 in 2017.
“Broadly, the concern is that it’s very important that a mass transit system, a public transit system, doesn’t become a system of mass surveillance,” said Brenda McPhail, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s privacy, technology and surveillance project.
Metrolinx spokesperson Anne Marie Aikins said in a statement the agency “appropriately balances the commitment to protecting the privacy of Presto card users and maintaining the safety and security of the transit system and its passengers.”
“Staff believe that the current process and policy provides the level of oversight and rigour that is required,” she said.
More than three million people in Ontario use Presto, which is installed on 11 different transit agencies across the GTA and Ottawa. In order to make use of some features of the card, customers must register it by supplying Metrolinx with information including their name, address and credit card number.
The figures on Presto information requests are contained in Metrolinx’s second annual report on its privacy policy, which will be discussed at the agency’s board meeting Thursday.
The report shows:
- Metrolinx received 94 requests last year, compared to 64 in 2017. That 47-per-cent increase coincided with a 49-per-cent bump in the number of transit riders using Presto
- Metrolinx divulged at least some information in response to 35 requests, or in 37 per cent of cases
- That was down from 2017, when Metrolinx disclosed information in 47 per cent of cases
- Of the 94 requests, 50 were related to suspected offences or law enforcement investigations; 43 were related to an emergency, such as a missing person, and one was related to a missing wallet
- Metrolinx gave information in 26 requests related to suspected offences or law enforcement investigations; and nine related to an emergency
- In just four of the 26 cases related to law enforcement investigations or suspected offences did Metrolinx require a court order to share Presto users’ information. It didn’t require one in the remaining 22.
