The Hamilton Spectator reports on one of those cases that doesn’t affect a lot of people, but has a significant effect for the individual who was affected:
The Hamilton Children’s Aid Society is apologizing to a city woman for mistakenly disclosing confidential information about her to her business partner.
Ayla Smith, 28, says the breach happened after her partner Robert Johnston, with whom she also shares an apartment, requested a copy of his file over recent allegations made about him.
Inside the more than 300 pages released to him, he received information about Smith that included comments about her time in care of the CAS while she was a youth, and that made reference to her as a drug user and alcohol abuser, which Smith insists is dead wrong.
Read more on the Hamilton Spectator.
Because of the breach, and despite Smith claiming that the information about her is wrong, her business partner has now reconsidered their partnership in a business they just launched in September.
That’s a pretty big impact.
And as we’ve seen here in the U.S. where the FTC has no authority over non-profits, consequences to this Canadian charity may be inconsequential:
The Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner’s office declined to comment because it does not have oversight of children’s aid societies. Spokesperson Trell Huether, however, said the agency has been calling for such oversight since 2004.