I read a CBC news story today about privacy, and whistle blowing in the context of one of Canada’s five major banks. Having worked at Bank of Montreal for 31 years and experienced events related to both these topics, I have thoughts worth sharing about all these things. (Worth sharing in my humble opinion).

Privacy

The underlying concept of today’s social privacy platform is that you are the owner of information that is uniquely associated with you and have a right to dictate it’s use.

The association is the critical factor.  A birthdate on it’s own is not classified as private but when it is associated with your name (i.e., your birthdate) it is private information.

In my opinion the laws and practices around ownership and management of private information are to all our benefits, continually improving and we are lucky to have a culture that supports and believes in these practices.

Todays news item was based on an employee complaint that the corporation (TD bank) was sharing private information, e.g.,  your name associated with your bank account number, to a third party contractor overseas, without your awareness or permission.

Whistle Blowing

The act of exposing any kind of information or activity that is deemed illegal, unethical, or not correct within an organization that is either private or public.

In this case the Corporation claims their outsourcing practices, including the handling of the private information was both legal and ethical.  Customers had been provided an agreement that advised their information could be shared with third parties overseas.

Of course the agreement did not need to be acknowledged specifically by a signiture but rather by a standard proclimation “by using this service you agree to …..”

Yeah, I always read those things in detail (sarcasm).  My brother however also does and many people are often frustrated by the time he tales to do so.  Kudos to him, but I am not sure this is a standard popular practice.

And this is where the discussion hits a grey area.  I am not sure what the answer is but the following thoughts are interesting food for discussion.

• Should public, private or government organizations be allowed to first refusal before the whistle is blown [perhaps they are not in the wrong)?
• Can any topuc be fodder for a whistle blower or are there limits?
• Is disclosure of privacy abuses open season, it is such an important topic, or should there be guidelines?

And this probably just the beginning of the discussion.  Fun topic.