Evidence of meeting #57 for Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was facebook.
A video is available from Parliament.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
I'm sorry. We were under the understanding that it was finished. That's why we brought it up,
If you want to continue the round of questioning, we can.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
4:35 p.m.
NDP
Charlie Angus NDP Timmins—James Bay, ON
Okay, well, we don't mind. We trust that we'll deal with this motion.
So yes, we're perfectly fine with that.
4:35 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Perfect. I think that is the easiest way to proceed. I will let Mr. Carmichael finish. Then, we will deal with the motions once the witness has left.
Mr. Carmichael, go ahead.
4:35 p.m.
Conservative
John Carmichael Conservative Don Valley West, ON
I'll be brief, but I just want to follow up with you, Mr. Sherman. We talked about a couple of issues relevant to privacy and data management. My colleague talked about how some of the data, obviously, has ended up where it shouldn't have.
My concern is that, with technology and social media today, we're not dealing with a perfect science. There's still a lot of flux, if you like, in the development and growth of your technology and others.
We visited Washington, and we've talked to other commissioners such as the FTC. We heard that the EU has just established a new framework, and the U.S. under President Obama has established a new framework of guidelines and controls. My concern is that we're hearing from other leadership organizations that are saying we've got to tighten the regulations, we've got to put tougher regulations out there. Now, Facebook is a leader, but you've got a lot of competition out there, smaller organizations who I think operate on a push-the-envelope-and-apologize-later approach.
Do you have a comment on the actual regulations? We're looking at the possibility that one of our recommendations may well be to give our commissioner more authority and greater control over the environment that she has to deal with, and I wonder if you have a comment on that relative to the more global network you're planning. We heard about Ireland. We heard about some of the other areas where you have to be conscious of it. You don't operate from Canada at this point; it just comes across the border out of your U.S. operations.
What would be your recommendation relative to governance of technology through our privacy commissioner in terms of what you're seeing with other jurisdictions, and should we be providing more stringent governance for our commissioner to operate under?
4:35 p.m.
Manager, Privacy and Public Policy, Facebook, Inc.
Thank you for the question. I think it's an important one and I appreciate that the committee is taking the time to think through that issue, which is a critical one. You mentioned enforcement regimes in the U.S. and Europe in comparison to Canada's, and as you point out, they're very different.
I think when you look at each of those regimes, although they're different, they've all been effective. As you know, we're based in Menlo Park, California, but we have a robust relationship with the Privacy Commissioner's office. I think that's a reflection of the fact that the existing regime works quite well. We're able to have consultations with her office in a way that's productive, enables us to get to good results, and allows us to make decisions that are best for Canadians. That is not adversarial in the way that you might see if the regime were different.
So I think we're actually quite a good example of how the Privacy Commissioner has used her authority well, has created robust privacy change, and has improved the service that we provide based on our existing authority.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
Thank you, Mr. Carmichael.
Once again, on behalf of the committee, thank you very much for appearing before us to help us with our study on privacy and social media.
We will suspend the meeting for a few moments so you can leave the room. We will then continue to discuss the motion that was just tabled.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
As agreed earlier, we are going to continue discussing the motion tabled by Ms. Borg. Do you want to discuss it or are you ready to vote? It's up to you.
4:40 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
We are ready to vote.
(Motion agreed to)
I will be pleased to write this official and public letter to invite representatives from Twitter to appear before the committee. Thank you.
Now, I would like to discuss the schedule for the next few days.
Mr. Warkentin, you have the floor.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
Chris Warkentin Conservative Peace River, AB
If we're going to go into committee business, I think it would be important to go in camera so we can speak openly and freely about where we want to take this.
4:40 p.m.
Conservative
4:40 p.m.
NDP
The Chair NDP Pierre-Luc Dusseault
There is a request for a recorded vote.
(Motion agreed to: yeas 7; nays 4) [See the Minutes of Proceedings]
We will suspend the meeting for a few minutes to give the technician time to take the meeting in camera.
[Proceedings continue in camera]