The head of the TTC has ordered its enforcement unit to stop using specialized forms to collect private information from transit users following a Star investigation into the practice — but he said fare inspectors and enforcement officers will still collect the personal information in their notebooks.The decision failed to appease some critics, who say the practice of collecting riders’ personal details raises concerns about privacy violations and racial profiling.In an interview, chief executive officer Rick Leary indicated his primary concern was the forms’ similarity to cards the Toronto Police Service formerly used to conduct controversial street checks often referred to as carding.Leary said he made the decision Wednesday to suspend the use of the TTC’s “field information” cards, known as “718” forms, after discussing the issue with Toronto police Chief Mark Saunders. “The TTC is going to discontinue as of now using that form,” Leary said. “The similarity of the form is what’s the concern ... We don’t do carding, we don’t do random checks. It’s the form itself. The information is necessary to collect. But if the form is a concern then we change the form. That’s what the chief and I had the discussion about.” Leary said he had asked the TTC’s diversity inclusion group to conduct an “expedited” review of the form and what information is collected on it, and come up with a new version. He didn’t specify all the aspects the review would cover, but said it would address concerns including the 20-year period the TTC retains riders’ information, a policy that privacy experts have criticized as excessive. There was no timeline for when the review will be complete.Noa Mendelsohn Aviv, director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association’s equality project, said suspending the use of the form doesn’t get at the root of the pr ...
|
