Presentation by Rishi Maharaj

1. Finding Balance in the Age of Open
Data: Some Policy and Legal
Considerations
Rishi Maharaj
Information Access and Privacy Professional

2. “Information is the Oxygen of democracy. If
People do not know what is happening in their
society, if the actions of those who rule them
are hidden, then they cannot take a meaningful
part in the affairs of that society”
http://www.article19.org/pdfs/standards/righttoknow.pdf
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3. Open Data and Open Government
Open Data therefore enshrines the concept
that neither the government of the day nor
civil servants create data for their benefit, but
for the benefit of the public. Data is generated
with public money, as such, it cannot be
unreasonably kept from citizens.

4. Image credit: http://bit.ly/ux2dNb/

5. Access to Information
‘the right to information lays the foundation
upon which to build good governance and
transparency…. It is the key to moving from
formal to consultative and responsive
democracy’
Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative

6. The Open Data Challenge
Citizenry Bureaucracy

7. What Bodies are covered by the Act?
Public Authority
a.If it exercises any function on behalf of the state
b.if it was established by virtue of the President, by a Minister of
Government in his capacity or by another public authority
c.an organization that is supported directly or indirectly by
Government funds and over which Government is in a position
to exercise control
State owned Regional
Parliament Ministries ,THA
enterprise Authorities
Courts
Courts

8. What information can be released?

9. Benefits of Access to Information
Legislation
Transparency and Accountability
Fosters economic
Promote democratic
development
governance
Exposes corruption
Improves service Supports participatory
delivery development

10. Information not accessible via Access
to Information Legislation
International
Relations
Documents
Trade secrets affecting the
documents economy and
commercial affairs
Defense and
Law Enforcement
Security documents
Material obtained Where secrecy
in confidence provisions apply
Documents
affecting legal Internal Working
proceedings

11. Public Interest
• Notwithstanding any law to the contrary a public authority shall give
access to an exempt document where there is reasonable evidence
that significant:
– Abuse of authority of neglect in the performance of official duty;
or
– Injustice to an individual; or
– Danger to the health or safety of an individual or of the public; or
– Unauthorised use of public funds
has or is likely to have occurred or in the circumstances giving access to
the document is justified in the public interest having regard both to
any benefit and to any damage that may arise from doing so.

12. Public Interest
• An important thing to note about this test is that it
has a presumption in favour of disclosure.
• The burden is on the public authority to show that
the public interest in withholding the information is
greater then the public interest in disclosure.

13. Privacy Protection
“Personal data is the new oil of the Internet
and the new currency of the digital world.”
Meglena Kuneva, European
Consumer Commissioner,
March 2009

14. Information Privacy Defined
• Information Privacy: Data Protection
– Freedom of choice; personal control;
informational self-determination;
– Control over the collection, use and disclosure of
any recorded information about an identifiable
individual;
– Privacy principles as embodied in “General Privacy
Principles”
– Global Privacy Standard (2006).

15. Why is the Protection of Personal
Information necessary?
• Privacy has long been understood to have a value
in a civil society that respects inherent rights &
values of mankind
• T&T Constitution enshrines the right to privacy
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that
privacy is a fundamental human right
• Privacy is an important element in the control of
electronic activities such as unsolicited marketing
& spam
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16. Privacy Protection
• We are currently confronting the rise of what I refer to
as “digital dossiers”…. As businesses and the
government increasingly share personal information,
digital dossiers about nearly every individual are being
assembled. This raises serious concerns. The
information gathered about us has become quite
extensive, and it is being used in ways that profoundly
affect our lives. Yet, we know little about how our
personal information is being used, and we lack the
power to do much about it.”
(Solove, 2010, p. 1)

17. Privacy Protection
Different type of Data
• Personal data: information that is or can be
linked directly or indirectly to some person.
• Statistical data: data without any personal
information.

18. Privacy Protection
Challenge
• The need to protect against disclosure of
personal information in confidential data (and
against discovery of personal information from
statistical data by matching techniques).
vs.
• The need to provide access to microdata for
research.

19. Data Sharing & Data Matching
Government is subject to specific responsibilities re data
sharing and data matching that recognizes the
importance of Government as a primary holder of info
about individuals
Where a Public Body intends to share and or match info
with other Public Body, it shall do so only pursuant to an
agreement in a manner prescribed by the Information
Commissioner
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20. Access by Design
7 basic principles
1. Be Proactive not Reactive
2. Access embedded into design
3. Openness and Transparency = Accountability
4. Fosters Collaboration
5. Enhances efficient government Collaboration
6. Makes Access truly Accessibility
7. Increases Quality of Information
Source: http://www.ipc.on.ca/images/Resources/accessbydesign_7fundamentalprinciples.pdf

21. Privacy by Design
7 basic principles
1. Be Proactive not Reactive
2. Privacy as the Default
3. Privacy Embedded into Design
4. Positive – Sum not Zero-Sum
5. End to End Security (Life Cycle Protection)
6. Visibility and Transparency
7. Respect for User Privacy
Source: http://www.ipc.on.ca/images/Resources/7foundationalprinciples.pdf

22. THANK YOU