StatsCan chief resigns

[TimG]

StatsCan gets data from far more sources than the long form census.

And what types of raw data could possibly be more sensitive than the tax data held by the CRA or the pre-budget analysis data held by the finance dept? Note I am not arguing that the StatsCan data is not sensitive just that that StatsCan does not have unique requirements when it comes to protecting data.

[dialamah]

I think most people would consider the privacy of their tax returns to be more important than the privacy of their long form census answers.

I would prefer my tax info and my personal info both be considered equally private, and held equally secure thank you very much.

[cybercoma]

And what types of raw data could possibly be more sensitive than the tax data held by the CRA or the pre-budget analysis data held by the finance dept? Note I am not arguing that the StatsCan data is not sensitive just that that StatsCan does not have unique requirements when it comes to protecting data.

The Househod Soending Survey, the Labour Force Survey, the Canadian Community Health Survey, the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, the Youth in Transition Survey, the Survey of Financial Security, the General Social Survey, the Postsecondary Student Information Survey,

the Uniform Crime Reporting Survey. You have absolutely no idea what's contained in the micro data files because the public does not have access to them, except through anonymous aggregate reporting, which brings me to this.....

And what types of raw data could possibly be more sensitive than the tax data held by the CRA or the pre-budget analysis data held by the finance dept? Note I am not arguing that the StatsCan data is not sensitive just that that StatsCan does not have unique requirements when it comes to protecting data.

The unique requirements are literally legislated through the Statistics Act, as I've mentioned several times already. Data security is a legal requirement of StatsCan. You not only need security clearance to work for them, but you also swear a legal oath under the threat of prison time for divulging any information you might come into contact with while working for them.

CRA has data security because people's finances are tied up there. What they don't have are people's mental and physical health data, people's education, information about kids experimenting with sex and drugs, data on child abuse and family violence, information about where people spend their money, information about unemployment and what jobs people are looking for, information about contact with police services, and on and on. People's income is literally a single variable amongst millions that are handled by StatsCan.

Edited September 20, 2016 by cybercoma