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Privacy Commission sends e-mail to wrong person

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In Simcoe County
Dec 15th, 2009
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By JONATHAN JENKINS, SUN MEDIA
This may be taking transparency a bit too far.
Internal e-mails from Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commission were inadvertently sent to a QMI Agency reporter’s inbox after a simple keystroke error — instead of another employee in the privacy commission office.
The mistake came after commission spokesman Bob Spence forwarded a string of e-mails about a freedom of information request he received Dec. 10 from QMI Agency reporter Doug Glynn.
He was tripped up by the autofill feature in his e-mail, which sent it to a QMI Agency reporter with the same first name as the privacy commission employee.
The e-mails, including one from Commissioner Ann Cavoukian, show staff discussing how to respond to Glynn’s request and aren’t particularly controversial, Spence said.
When you’re working with really, really sensitive information you’re much more careful,” he said.
You’re triple checking things on who exactly you’re sending it to. That was not the case with this.”
Glynn, who writes for the Barrie Examiner, was seeking information on Site 41, a proposed dump site in Simcoe County opposed by many local residents. He said he was relieved the mistake sent his FOI request to a fellow QMI Agency journalist, and not someone else.
It could have easily been (a competitor) and that’s a little scary, let me put it that way,” Glynn said.

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