11779 replies to this topic

[Rob Randall]

Well, I just lost ten bucks in the "What's mmjb Got?" pool.

[mbjj]

It was a malignant tumour. I was in a state of shock.

[Taj]

I'm a bit late to the party, but I've been lurking and saw NParker's message when I read back through the forum.  I received the same email, and did a bit of digging around last night.  That most recent email from Councillor Isitt was sent from his personal - not municipal - email (contact@benisitt.ca).   Not only did you and I not authorize him to spam us with his halo-polishing, but it appears that he committed a privacy breach under FOIPPA.  Personal information has apparently made its way from the municipal ether (bisitt@victoria.ca) to benisitt.ca.

 

As an aside, www.benisitt.ca currently redirects to https://www.victoria.../ben-isitt.html, which - if you're not paying attention - makes it seem like the whole thing is on the up-and-up.  (Municipal employee emailing municipal contacts).  In fact, the Whois register shows benisitt.ca was created in December 2007.  The WayBack Machine shows that it was most definitely a personal site until late 2018 when it was set to redirect.

 

So, not only has he spammed us and used our information for a purpose other than that for which it was collected......he also appears to have committed a privacy breach by leaking it to himself in his personal capacity.    

 

Comrade Isitt is once again using email addresses gained through official CoV communications to distribute information not related to city business. This came to my personal email address today.

My response:

Edited by Taj, 17 May 2020 - 01:36 PM.

[Sparky]

^ That’s just not right.

[Taj]

^ That’s just not right.

No, it's not. I was having (online) drinks with a friend last night and we were flabbergasted at what we were finding.  The "weird" thing is that emails from the @benisitt.ca domain use City Hall as his mailing address.  I'm an email hoarder, and I happened to have a 2019 email that Isitt sent from his municipal address.  It was interesting to see that his signature block was almost identical, except in the most recent @benisitt.ca email, he had removed his municipal titles.  It just had his name and #1 Centennial Square as the address.

 

I've submitted a complaint to the FOI department at the City.  Apparently they haven't taken complaints seriously in the past, so I did the legwork for them and told them what sections his actions violated.  I also indicated that I was confused as to how my personal data ended up with benisitt.ca and I would like to know what legal authority entitled him to act as he did. They have 30 business days to respond. 

 

I'm astounded that he's been able to get away with this. I'm a government employee (different level of government) and policies regarding ethics, conflict of interest, and responsible IT usage are drilled into us. 

Edited by Taj, 17 May 2020 - 04:58 PM.

[FogPub]

^^ Not that I like what he's done, but it somehow seems a bit odd that one can potentially get in trouble for simply leaking information to oneself, assuming said info goes no further.

 

That he's used it for non-city business - that's where the censure should come.

[Taj]

^^ Not that I like what he's done, but it somehow seems a bit odd that one can potentially get in trouble for simply leaking information to oneself, assuming said info goes no further.

 

That he's used it for non-city business - that's where the censure should come.

It's a bit of a legal/ethics issue, I think - info was collected in one role for specific purposes; it shouldn't be reused by the person in their personal role for other issues. 

 

Regardless, I definitely agree that the fact it's being used for non-city business is definitely worthy of censure.

[rjag]

I think the privacy bit is along the lines of information collected in the public domain can’t be harvested and redirected for private use or gain without the prior and informed consent of the recipients

[Mike K.]

By sending messages via BenIsitt.ca, the responses and exchanges cannot be FOI’d as the conversations are taking place in private.

This might remind us of a certain American presidential candidate and how she used a private server for high level government communications.

A tiny, tiny portion of people will think twice about what they’re receiving, and a further tiny portion of them will know something isn’t right about the private email the messages are originating from. A further tiny portion will complain. The remaining 95% will now be considered as welcoming of the information or indifferent, and their email addresses could be used for future political efforts, whether for the councillor himself, or others, or on behalf of organizations.

Raj is taking the right steps by alerting the City. They know this is an issue but thus far there has not been the necessary effort made to curb the councillor’s use of a private email server.

[Mike K.]

To the points about not wanting to engage here, we’ll note that the original motion was hastily amended. Feedback, swift and emotional no doubt, made the difference. The plan is going ahead but it has changed considerably.

So council does respond to feedback. But they also know that on VV the sentiment is typically at odds with their group think, and that’s how its been since 2006.

But as with any forum, sometimes out of 20 messages 2-3 contain the necessary info they need to get a sense of sentiment. It can be a little laborious to catch up after two days of not checking the forum, let alone a week or two. So are they watching every response to every thread? No. But the sentiments discussed will find their way to them, whether they respect/consider them at every turn is another matter.

[Nparker]

...So are they watching every response to every thread? No. But the sentiments discussed will find their way to them, whether they respect/consider them at every turn is another matter.

Actions speak louder than words. I think it's pretty obvious what CoV council thinks about many of the opinions expressed on VV.

[Mike K.]

And yet there are issues we see eye to eye on, like development patterns changing in step of sensible density requirements.

It’s the social pursuits that are the cause of most of the discontent, I’d say.

[Nparker]

And yet there are issues we see eye to eye on, like development patterns changing in step of sensible density requirements...

I'd say that's an occurrence of barely a majority of the council, barely a majority of the time.

[kxl]

Also interesting is that Isitt’s phone number on the councillors’ contact information page is what appears to be a mobile phone number, whereas for the others it’s a phone line at city hall

[sukika]

 

I've submitted a complaint to the FOI department at the City.  Apparently they haven't taken complaints seriously in the past, so I did the legwork for them and told them what sections his actions violated.  I also indicated that I was confused as to how my personal data ended up with benisitt.ca and I would like to know what legal authority entitled him to act as he did. They have 30 business days to respond. 

 

 

Thank you for taking action on this, Taj.  Please escalate to the OIPC if they do not respond or if the response is not satisfactory.  

[Taj]

Thank you for taking action on this, Taj.  Please escalate to the OIPC if they do not respond or if the response is not satisfactory.  

You're welcome.  I worked on FOI myself in a past life, so am more than ready to go to the OIPC.  I will let you know what the response is, although it may take a while. I think there may also be a "Covid-19" extension being granted to responding organizations, which is entirely fair.

 

I ran the scenario past another friend of mine who still is very heavily involved with FOI elsewhere in the province.  I told that person the situation but anonymized Isitt.  My friend's conclusion was that it absolutely needed to be reported, and then said "Was this Ben Isitt by any chance? Nobody else would be that careless or disrespectful." He has, it seems, quite a reputation.

 

It just shocks me that somebody who is a self-described legal scholar (and appears to have been a candidate for PhD in Law) can be so cavalier with legislative requirements.

 

The very snarky and tongue-in-cheek part of me thinks that if Isitt is considering @benisitt.ca as some sort of extension of his government email......it is no wonder that he complained he was overwhelmed with email and the position needed to be promoted to full-time.   

Edited by Taj, 19 May 2020 - 01:11 PM.

[spanky123]

^Welcome to the start of your journey down the rabbit hole. I will make a note to myself to check back in 2 years to see how the process is going!

[Rob Randall]

Sorry, I don't understand what's going on with this Issit email thing. I thought it was dealt with last year when someone made a formal complaint to City Hall and they assured us it wouldn't happen again.

 

https://vibrantvicto...-42#entry477334

[Nparker]

Sorry, I don't understand what's going on with this Issit email thing. I thought it was dealt with last year when someone made a formal complaint to City Hall and they assured us it wouldn't happen again...

It might have been dealt with, then Comrade Ben made it happen again.

Edited by Nparker, 19 May 2020 - 02:00 PM.

[sdwright.vic]

Sorry, I don't understand what's going on with this Issit email thing. I thought it was dealt with last year when someone made a formal complaint to City Hall and they assured us it wouldn't happen again.

https://vibrantvicto...-42#entry477334

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