Guide to FOIP-Chapter 6

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Guide to FOIP, Chapter 6, Protection of Privacy. Updated 27 February 2023. 48 about an individual, it must be personal in the sense that it is private and that it is or should be treated as confidential so that disclosure would amount to an invasion of privacy or a breach of confidence.137 To qualify as personal information, the information must be about the individual in a personal capacity. As a general rule, information associated with an individual in a professional, official or business capacity will not be considered to be “about” the individual.138 The IPC has consistently found that “business card information” (contact information on a business card) does not constitute personal information because it is not personal in nature.139 Business telephone numbers and addresses would qualify as personal information only if the record was personal in nature.140 The Commissioner has previously relied on the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) to support the interpretation that contact information for individuals in commercial business or private industry is not personal information. PIPEDA applies to every organization that collects, uses, or discloses personal information during “commercial activities”. Section 4.01 of PIPEDA, carves out business contact information from the type of personal information that requires protection. Subsection 2.1 of PIPEDA defines “business contact information” as, “information that is used for the purpose of communicating or facilitating communication with an individual in relation to their employment, business, or profession” such as the individual’s name, position name or title, work address, work telephone number, work fax number or work electronic address. This supports the conclusion that business card information is not meant to be personal information for the purposes of subsection 24(1)(e) of FOIP.141 137 SK OIPC Review Report 1993-029 at p. 6. Also cited in Review Report F-2005-001 at [28]. 138 SK OIPC Review Report F-2010-001 at [126]. Originated from ON IPC Order PO-2420 at p. 3. 139 SK OIPC Review Reports F-2006-001 at [113], F-2010-001 at [124], LA-2010-001 at [63], F-2012-006 at [138], LA-2013-002 at [84], F-2013-007 at [109], F-2014-001 at [352], F-2014-005 at [18], 158-2016 at [13], 184-2016 at [20], 207-2016 to 211-2016 at [28], 258-2016 at [13], 263-2016 to 268-2016 at [72], 277-2016 at [41] and [43], 290-2017 at [14], 302-2016 at [61], 071-2017, 072-2017, and 073-2017 at [57], 082-2017 at [20], 139-2017 at [94], 298-2017 at [19], 017-2018 at [49], 078-2018 at [48], 117-2018 at [22], 166-2018 at [114], 108-2019 at [146], 135-2019 at [57], 186-2019 at [30], 141-2019 at [20] and 147-2018, 197-2018, 008-2019, 073-2019 at [132]. 140 SK OIPC Review Report 302-2016 at [59]. 141 See SK OIPC Review Reports F-2012-006 at [143] to [145], LA-2013-002 at [82] to [84], 186-2019 at [28] to [30].

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