A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Assessing Privacy Practices on Ontario Municipal Websites
Authors: Adelabu, Adegboola David; Yan, Yan; Zhang, Wenjing; Rauti, Sampsa; Leppänen, Ville; Bhutto, Zuhaibuddin; Lin, Wenjun
Editors: N/A
Conference name: Annual International Conference on Privacy, Security, and Trust
Publication year: 2025
Book title : 2025 22nd Annual International Conference on Privacy, Security, and Trust (PST)
ISBN: 979-8-3315-0344-4
eISBN: 979-8-3315-0343-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/PST65910.2025.11268862
Publication's open availability at the time of reporting: No Open Access
Publication channel's open availability : No Open Access publication channel
Web address : https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11268862
The sharing of personal data on government websites is a major concern of daily users. The existing regulations do not allow for the collection and sharing of personal data. This study investigates the privacy practices of 444 municipal websites across Ontario, Canada, focusing on compliance with relevant data protection regulations and the extent of third-party data sharing. In particular, we examine the issues in line with Canadian standards, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), the Canadian Privacy Act (CPA), and the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). We perform network traffic analysis, and apply a combination of privacy policies. Our findings uncover substantial gaps in privacy practices, including insufficient transparency, inadequate user-consent mechanisms, and pervasive third-party data sharing. The results of our study highlight an urgent need for the enhancement of privacy measures on government municipal websites to protect the personal data of users and for the implementation of practices that comply with local and international privacy laws, such as PIPEDA, CPA, MFIPPA, and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The study provides actionable recommendations aimed at strengthening data protection and restoring public trust in digital municipal services.
Funding information in the publication:
This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) [DGECR-2021-00348].