Privacy in Judicial Decisions.

• Author: Bowal, Peter
• Position: Feature: Privacy Protection

Everything secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity. --Lord Acton (1834-1902) Introduction

The legal protection of personal information that is collected and held by government is a relatively recent social development. It did not take long for government bodies to create protocols to minimize collection, use, disclosure and storage of personal information.

On the other hand, governments and courts need to be transparent and accountable. In Vancouver Sun, the Supreme Court of Canada said, in the context of the court system:

Public access to the courts guarantees the integrity of judicial processes by demonstrating 'that justice is administered in a non-arbitrary manner, according to the rule of law'. Openness is necessary to maintain the independence and impartiality of courts. It is integral to public confidence in the justice system and the public's understanding of the administration of justice. Moreover, openness is a principal component of the legitimacy of the judicial process and why the parties and the public at large abide by the decisions of courts. The challenge with a new social development like privacy, is to balance it against other competing social interests like transparency in the legal system. What should be the limits of personal privacy? When should government disclose personal information collected?

This article introduces and briefly explains the recent issue of whether individuals who bring a civil lawsuit or appeal to an administrative body should be able to demand their identities be removed from those public court and administrative decisions.

Privacy Is Not An Absolute Right

Canadians may possess a broad understanding of rights, but they are also remarkably uninformed about the limits and nuances of those rights. For example, even without choosing to share something on social media, one's personal information is passively disclosed in the regular coming and going in one's day. People are observed and photographed in public. Communications are overheard and captured. Certain salaries, for example, must be disclosed annually by law. Sealing orders and publication bans of court proceedings are exceptional and courtrooms are virtually never closed to the public. The comparable freedom of the press is an essential constitutional right in our free and democratic society.

Privacy legislation governing the public sector also carves...