Privacy Protective Survey Guidance

Office of the Saskatchewan Information and Privacy Commissioner. Privacy Protective Survey Guidance. 14 March 2024. 2 information. The purpose will also guide your analysis of whether any collection, use or disclosure of personal information is authorized under Saskatchewan’s access and privacy laws. These considerations are discussed below. What Privacy Laws Apply If your survey involves personal information, the privacy rules may be found in FOIP or LA FOIP. FOIP and LA FOIP apply to personal information in the possession or under the control of government institutions and local authorities, respectively. In this guide, those collectively will be referred to as public bodies. FOIP and LA FOIP set out the rules that apply to the collection, retention, use, disclosure and safeguarding of personal information. These laws also include rights of individuals to obtain access to information, including their own personal information. What is Personal Information Section 24 of FOIP (section 23 of LA FOIP) defines “personal information” as information about “an identifiable individual” that is “personal in nature.” FOIP and LA FOIP include examples of information that qualify as personal information. Information is about “an identifiable individual” if the individual can be identified from the information, or if the information, when combined with information otherwise available, could reasonably be expected to allow the individual to be identified. Information is “personal in nature” when it reveals something personal about the identifiable individual. Information that relates to an individual in a business, professional or official capacity may not qualify as personal information unless it reveals something personal about them. This distinction is important where a public body seeks to conduct a survey of its own workforce because the information involved may or may not qualify as personal information. Be aware that an online survey may result in the collection of personal information that would not be collected through a paper-based survey. For example, the survey process could involve the collection of information about the respondent’s internet connection. This information is called “metadata.” In this context, metadata refers to information about the device or computer used by the survey respondent.

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