Big and Little Brother: The Potential Erosion of Workplace Privacy in Canada

Abstract

RésuméDes recherches récentes révèlent que le contrôle et la surveillance des travailleurs au Canada augmentent. Parallèlement, le gouvernement fédéral canadien réclame un accès accru aux bases de données exclusives à des fins juridiques. Il existe donc une réelle possibilité que les données de contrôle et d'accès des employés soient consultées régulièrement par divers organismes gouvernementaux et judiciaires. Comme les travailleurs de bien de provinces jouissent de peu de mesures légales de protection de la vie privée, et puisqu'il est improbable que de nouvelles mesures soient adoptées, les employeurs doivent assumer leur rôle de membres socialement responsables dans une société libérale et démocratique, et respecter la règle de droit en réduisant la cueuillette de renseignements personnels des travailleurs.

An Empirical Assessment of the Intrusiveness and Reasonableness of Emerging Work Surveillance Technologies in the Public Sector

“…For example, for camera‐based work surveillance in Canada, one of the few technologies for which a rich jurisprudence exists, Khullar (2012, 383–389) tracked down five tests with 17 questions, 10 mentions of reasonableness, and 2 explicit mentions of intrusiveness. Most of those tests involve answering questions about whether the surveillance is demonstrably necessary to meet a specific need, the likelihood of its effectiveness in meeting that need, a proportionality test of loss of privacy vis‐à‐vis benefit gained, and confirmation that there are no less invasive ways to achieve the same end (Levin 2007). Yet answering the questions in these tests ultimately come down to the subjective opinions of judges and arbitrators.…”

“…Writing from a Canadian context, Levin (2007, 216–217) provided a list of electronic surveillance methods used or piloted by employers ranging from Closed‐circuit televisions (CCTVs), biometric identifiers, radio frequency identifiers (RFIDs), internet and email monitoring, and keystroke tracking. Since that publication, we know of additional surveillance practices used in the public and private sectors around the world.…”

Next Generation Privacy: The Internet of Things, Data Exhaust, and Reforming Regulation by Risk of Harm

“…Even if a single global consent sufficed rather than requiring employers to obtain consent each time an employee's behavior is monitored, that consent is often illusory; no consent, no job. 262 Even in the home, users who purchase and install a Nest thermostat are likely consenting Cisco, What is the Internet of Everything, available online at <cisco.com/web/tomorrow-startshere/ioe/> (accessed 25 November 2014).…”