There’s a news story (that we summarize below) about how some federal political parties have started to address privacy issues in their platforms. The one article focuses on the Green Party, which ironically had to address a privacy breach when publicly announcing its position.

The fact that most of the parties have apparently addressed to a certain degree data protection and privacy issues in their platform is a promising sign, news in and of itself in privacy land, and definitely a step in the right direction.

I haven’t had the time to read what they’ve promised so far, but here are some of the things I’m going to look for. A plan should:

• Recognize privacy as a human right.
• Avoid crippling SMEs with too much regulatory burden.
• Require all organizations to truly be accountable for the processing of personal information.
• Concede that consent cannot be procured in all instances and should not be the only solution.
• Provide for more meaningful compensation to those whose human rights are violated.
• Ensure that political parties have to adhere to it as well, not just the rest of us.
• Modernize the federal Privacy Act meaningfully.

Gosh, I could go on and on. And, yeah, those of you who read this regularly will say, “Kris, you have.” 

What is on your wish list for political privacy-related promises? Frankly, as the election is now well underway, as a sector that cares for this issue, now is the time for us each as professionals being asked for a vote to ask our candidates for their commitments on these matters. Lots to watch. I think it’ll be a busy fall!