Constituency files taken in alleged Tory privacy breach

[Hailey]

OTTAWA -- The Conservative party required newly elected MPs to sign on to a partisan database that some privacy experts believe breaches constituent privacy, if not the law.

The Tories deny the private constituency work files of any MPs ever went into the party database -- known as the Constituent Information Management System (CIMS) -- and a government minister insists it has nothing to do with government work.

But a party authorization form for MPs clearly shows the system was geared to political operations and was intended for use in the Parliament Hill and constituency offices of Tory MPs.

Former Conservative Garth Turner, now a Liberal MP, signed the form in February 2006. He said his constituency office staff was told by the party to use CIMS as "our daily databank" -- and did so for several months last year.

A party spokesperson insisted yesterday that no information from constituent files is ever entered in the party database.

"If Garth can produce the information that confirms that, I'd love to take a look at it . . . the party does not use MP case work in CIMS," said Ryan Sparrow.

Late yesterday afternoon, Turner produced the CIMS user identification (MP/Hill) authorization form he was required to sign.

The form states that it "must be completed and then faxed or mailed to the Conservative Party of Canada political operations office." The form lists three possible access locations: Parliament Hill office, constituency office, or other.

In the Commons yesterday, Turner demanded to know whether Canadians can see their CIMS files or have them removed.

Peter Van Loan, the Conservative House leader, responded: "I fail to see what a political party database has to do with government business."

While flatly stating that no constituency files are used in the partisan database, the Conservatives claimed that Turner himself was guilty of that very transgression.

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Nation ... 3-sun.html

[Mr. Valentine]

CIMS is used for voter ID, the other parties are jealous that they are still working with Excel maybe?

Anyway, there is a place in CIMS to put down "constituent concerns", like you could put in info to the effect that they care about military issues or taxes for instance but I do not believe that you would put down anything specific, or government related in there.

Why should Canadians be able to see their CIMS entry? Should they be able to see any files on them held by anyone? The database is private property. The information in it was legally collected.

[doggedlyright]

Garth certainly did not complain about this privacy issue when he was a member of the CPC. Oh, I wonder why he is complaining now?

Do you think the local CPC constituency has access to the data? Maybe they are using it against Garth?

[shiva]

Garth certainly did not complain about this privacy issue when he was a member of the CPC. Oh, I wonder why he is complaining now?

Do you think the local CPC constituency has access to the data? Maybe they are using it against Garth?

Here's hoping.

[EdS]

Garth is an idiot. CIMS has little use for actual MP use. It is used primarily for Conservative riding (EDA) offices for voter ID and as a database for elections. It is uselesss otherwise.

By now, his CIMS passwords are useless. Only four people per EDA get access to CIMS anyway.

[Jason Kauppinen]

Garth is an idiot.

We knew that already.

[WestViking]

I have uses the CIMS system since it was rolled out. Anyone who claims to maintain constituent files on the system is showing his ignorance of what the CIMS system can and cannot do.

[Angleland]

Maybe Barf has not kept up with technology. In the olden days, one used to write down on paper the name and contact info of a supporter, someone who took a sign, gave a donation etc during an the course of an election campaign. One would then possibly store those papers and use them again. Or the candidate did not run again and ditched the lot while house cleaning.

Over time, such amazing innovations as the typewritermeant that the info could be kept in more legible format but could be subject to the same fate as mentioned above.

With the advent of personal computers, such information as mentioned above might have been kept on Word, Excel or maybe even Access. Although the information was now easier to retireve, with variations the same possible fates awaited it as noted above.

With the advent of the internet and networks, the information gathered during an election would be stored in a central database. TracRight in Ontario and CIMS witht he CA and CPC were examples. If the candidate bails after the election or his/her computer is stolen or damaged or lost, the data gathered primarily due to the fact the candidate was running under the party banner is intact in the central database.

Barf Turner. The name fits.

[Droid1963]

And the Liberals use ManagElect....
http://theaitcorp.com/

http://www.theaitcorp.com/manag_e.asp

# Use of advanced Optical Mark Reader technology to enter voter intention and to track the vote for your GOTV efforts
# Use of Barcode reader technology to update sign request, voter intention and vote participation
# Full integration with our Call Centre Service for canvassing or Get Out The Vote phone call strategy
# Advanced Canvass Analysis Reporting let's you know where you stand by district
# Get Out The Vote call lists and walk lists automatically updated with voting results entered with the OMR
# Full search capabilities enabling you to pinpoint your audience using hundreds of pieces of information

Campaign Tracking
# Advanced intention tracking with 4 different canvass types and Affiliation changes recording
# Party History feature to keep track of membership and executive positions in your organization
# Grouping to allow to regroup individuals in categories
# Donations feature to assist in fundraising efforts
# Advanced tracking of sign requests with sign status and sign size
# Record your volunteers by tasks
# Track birthdays and anniversary dates to send congratulatory notes
# Use of Demographic clusters to identify segments of the population
# Mail Merge feature to extract the data you want for targeted communications

(Some pretty nefarious stuff here, considering the privacy act.... where's "Bruce Cheadle, Cub Reporter" on this one???)


This isn't news. nor is it some kind of conspiracy. As usual, media whore Garth Turner is seeing ghosts when there are none.

What a friggin' motard.

[Droid1963]

Letter sent to LFP:

Not surprisingly, Garth Turner's addiction to media attention has caused him to open his mouth without engaging his cerebrum. The use of computer-based voting databases is a practice used by both major parties, and Mr Turner knows it. I'm sure he also spoke at length about the Liberals' "ManagElect" software, that allows the party to, among other features, track the personal information of voters to send cards and congratulatory notes; use demographic clustering to identify segments of the populace and target their vote; and according to the software manufacturer's website, "pinpoint your audience using hundreds of pieces of information". The website also lists all the Liberal-affiliated groups using their product, including the Federal Liberal Caucus of Canada.
Nefarious stuff. The same allegations of constituent privacy breaches and constitutents having the ability to request their name being omitted from this database also apply. Mr.Turner either purposely omitted his party-of-the-week's use of this database in an attempt to smear the Tories, or he divulged it and it was cut by the reporter or editor... a headline bashing the Liberals doesn't stand out much any more, even in Ontario.
Considering that I found the information on ManagElect after 10 minutes on google, I can only assume Cub Reporter Bruce Cheadle must have skipped the investigative reporting module at journalism school.