Privacy watchdog red flags secret RCMP databanks

[CHIMO]

More than half the files on the RCMP's secret data banks should not be there, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has found.

An audit by the commissioner's office, made public Wednesday, found that tens of thousands of files in the RCMP's two “exempt” banks - which are designed to hold the most sensitive national security and criminal intelligence information - should not be secret, and many should have been removed years ago.

“These finds are particularly concerning given that, with few exceptions, the audit was conducted on randomly selected files already examined by the RCMP as part of an internal review,” privacy commissioner's Jennifer Stoddart's office said in a release accompanying the report.

The RCMP has two secret data banks: Criminal Operational Intelligence Records and National Security Investigation Records. While they are supposed to be reserved for only the most secret security information, Ms. Stoddart highlighted some examples of files found in the databases that clearly did not belong there.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080213.wprivacyreport0213/BNStory/National/home

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