Bill 137 — Fourth Session, 16Th Legislature, 20 Elizabeth Ii •• J R the Legislative Assembly of Alberta Bill 137 the Government Computer Privacy Act (Legislature 16, Session 4)

L16 S4 4968

Alberta — Bills

1971 Bill 137 Fourth Session, 16th Legislature, 20 Elizabeth II •• J r THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF ALBERTA BILL 137 The Government Computer Privacy Act MR. HYNDMAN First Reading ......... . Second Reading Third Reading ............................. . Printed by L. S. Wall, Queen's Printer, Edmonton

BILL 137 1971 THE·'GO~MENT COMPUTER PRIVACY ACT ( Assented to ,1971) HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the L€gislative Assembly of Albe~ta, enacts as follows: 1. In this Aet, (Ia) "Data" m,eans i'nformaltion that has been fed into 'and stored 'in la data bank; (b) "Data bamk" ,means a filing system (including a computer) that reoords 'a,nd 'stores infrorcrnatioTI; (Ie) '''Minister''means the P]}ovi'ndal Treasurer; (d) "Operatorr" ~m€lang, the person responsible f'Or the 'Ope~ai:ion of a druta ba,nk ,and fOil" the int,roduction iinto ,and ext~adJi'On from it 'Of dwba. 2.

(1) The Minister ,shall ,cause la reg;is:ter to be kept of aliI data banks operated by itlhe Governmemt 'Of the Province 'Of Alberta land lany boards, Icom'mislsli'ons 'Or agencies there of.

(2) The register shall set forth, in respect of each data bank (

a) the nature of the data stored or to be stored there in; (

b) Vhe purpos'e ror whic1h <daJta is stored therein; (

c) the d'a!ss 'of persons 'aU'tlli'Ol'Iized to eXlt~act dalta therefrom.

(3) T'he 'Operlator of the data bank Ishall furn1ish the in formation referlred to in subsecti'On (2).

(4) The opel~atJor shall adviSiethe Minister 'Of !a,;ny aiJtera tioTI's 'Of, additions Ito or delet,ions f~om the sla:id inforrma taon wlitb'in four weeks 'Of such alteration, addition or deleti'On. 3. Only data relevant to the purposes for which the data bank is 'operated :shall be stored therein.

Explanatory Notes The purpose of this Bill is to: 1. Safeguard the privacy of individual citizens by preventing in discriminate access to Government computers and data banks which contain personal information. 2. Regulate and control the dissemination of data from Govern ment computers that record and store personal information re lating to identifiable individuals. 3. Prevent the pooling, by unauthorized persons, of personal infor mation on citizens contained in numerous computers maintained by Government departments, agencies, commissions and Crown corporations.

The Bill provides for the establishment of a Government Com puter Register at a central office so that, at a glance, the following information will be easily and readily available: (

a) The nature of the data stored in the computer. (

b) The purpose for which the stored data are to be used. (

c) The class of civil servants authorized to extract data from it. The Government Computer Register would be kept up-to-date as new computers are installed or existing computers expanded in their operations. The Bill requires that the Legislature be advised each year, by means of a tabled report, of the status of the register. Computer data relating to the personal history of an Alberta citizen could only be revealed to someone outside the Government department, agency, commission or Crown corporation where they were compiled in three instances: 1.

If the Legislature, by a motion, ordered production of the data. 2. Upon the written consent of the citizen, or, of the citizen is a child, upon written consent of the child's parent or guardian. 3. At a trial, hearing or proceeding provided for in another Act.

4. DaJtla in a Government Data Bank (

a) that re1lrates to thel personal hist'Ory or record 'Of an 'adult or a child, ,and (

b) whiC!h hascOime into existence throug;h any Gov- ernment Department, hoard, commission or agency shaH not be rdlsdosed to \any person outslide the departmen t, board, .commission 'Or lagency whi,C!h 'Compiled the datra ex 'cept (

a) upon an order of the Legislrative Assembly; (

b) upon tlhe written consent 'Of the ladult or 'Of the parent or guardian oftJhe child; (

c) at ,a trial, hearing or proceeding the ,authority fQr whli,Cih lis provided for by :another Act. 5. Where the Minister (

a) perm1its data stored ilna data bank to be used for purposes other than those stated 'On the register, or (

b) allows access to the s'aJid dalba to persons other than those entered on the register as having auth 'Orized 'access ,he slhalll be Hable in damages to the person whose personal data is invollved land, wlheresucih ,acts 'Orr IOm:lsslions are wilful, lis gu'ilty 'Of an offernce ,and 'On

summary Clonvietion :is liable to a fine of not more than $10,000. 6. The Minister ,shan make an annual repn1rt Betting forth the infoTIDation ,contained in rbhe data bank register, wh~ich repo,rt shall be tabled before tJhe Le~islative As s'em1)Iy bef10re M'a,rch 1st in earch year or, if the Legisllature is n'Ot slitti'ng, within 15 days of Ithe 'commencem'ent 'Of the next ensuing sessi'On thereof. 7. ''Dhi,s Act comes 'into ror,ce on the day upon whkh it is 'assented to. 2

2 Title: 1971 (16th, 4th) Bill 137, The Government Computer Privacy Act

Document details

Collection	Alberta — Bills
Citation	L16 S4 4968
Type	bill
Volume / chapter	L16 S4 4968
Language	en
Format	json
Source	PROVINCIAL
Identifier	773d27b28144b318d59da09b06f679efe7fafbda

Source file is stored in the law ingest library (json).