An IT developer recently compiled a list of 100 million Facebook users and posted it to BitTorrent for sharing. Much was made of this “security breach” (Facebook denied a “security breach” since all data compiled was publicly available anyway). What was it that was listed? Any profile information made public, such as your name, location, and your list of friends. This is public on my Facebook profile so I assume I am on the list.

Now virtually all my Facebook information is restricted to friends only, including pictures and posts. Only my friends list and a restricted personal profile are shown to non-friends. But if I remove this, I would be rendered virtually invisible on Facebook, and what would be the point of that? This is public information precisely so I can be discovered on Facebook by lost acquaintances. I have found at numerous acquaintances that I had lost contact with for more than ten years in this way. The purpose of Facebook is to be discovered. But I restrict everything else to friends.

Conversely, virtually of my LinkedIn information is totally public. Why the difference? One is to share privately with friends, the other is to build my career which requires exposure to the greater world.

In short, the information I provide is given to better myself. One so I can be found in a world-wide directory, and the other so I can increase business contacts and share my professional experience.

photo credit: Campbelltown City Council

Similarly, the Canadian census can be seen in a similar light. Data given to Statistics Canada is used to improve our communities, our cities, and our country. It is used in urban planning, such as the location of new schools and hospitals. It is used when determining where to start a business, or a found a new place of worship, or a new job training program. To refuse to be counted is to literally not count in your community. It’s like not voting. You are only hurting yourself.

However, when a government argues that a census is a) unnecessarily intrusive, b) a tedious and academic exercise in futility, or c) a secret nefarious plot by shadowy yet unnamed enemies-of-freedom, they are both demonizing and belittling the data collection process itself. Such action will result not only in a drop in confidence in any attempted voluntary census but will also erode confidence in Canada’s public institutions. And that hurts all of us.

We live in the information age. It’s time the Government of Canada recognizes that.