Protecting Privacy in Open Government

The IPC strongly supports Open Government initiatives and encourages Ontario institutions to be more open and transparent, and to enhance their engagement with the public. Without appropriate measures, however, institutions could face the following risks:

• personal information may be published without authority
• individuals may be re-identified by combining published de-identified data or other information
• more personal information is collected, used or disclosed than is necessary
• personal information may be used for unrelated purposes (for example, data profiling and mining)

Privacy is not a barrier to accomplishing the goals of Open Government as long as the appropriate protections are in place. Today we are issuing Open Government and Protecting Privacy to offer guidance for institutions on how to move towards increased government transparency without negatively affecting individuals’ privacy.