Estonia's census database under fire

TALLINN - Estonia's first census since Soviet times took place this
past spring, amidst a cloud of controversy that it invaded people's
privacy with its questions about religion, ethnic background and
workplace addresses.

Now, police have opened a criminal investigation into the Statistics
Office, after the data protection inspectorate declared that the
database the Statistics Office used to store the census
questionnaires unlawfully contained sensitive, personalized
information.

General director of the Statistics Office, Rein Veetousme, handed
down the order to create the electronic database containing all of
the census questionnaire information, including personal data, on May
10.

"The census law says that it must be done on an anonymous basis,"
said Erki Podra, head of the control department of the data
protection inspectorate, a body subordinated to the Ministry of
Internal Affairs.

By creating a database with names accompanying addresses and other
answers to the census, the Statistics Office violated rules governing
the use of a state database, and in doing so harmed individuals'
fundamental rights and caused damage to the state's interests,
according to the data protection inspectorate.

However, the Statistics Office agreed with the inspectorate on June
13 that it would immediately align itself with the law and cease
processing the information in the current database until a new
software program is written which will ensure the anonymity of the
data, Podra explained. He chalked the blunder up to the Statistics
Office's carelessness in designating responsibility to software
writers, 'who didn't know about the laws."

Veetousme called the database incident a "misunderstanding" between
the Statistics Office and the data protection inspectorate. He said
it was only an interim, or "micro" database, in which the collected
information was being edited. The census questionnaire data
inevitably comes lumped together, and there is no other approach than
to enter it into a single database first in order to separate the
information.

"We were using a methodological approach from the U.N.," he said.

The electronic database was initiated under an order from former
Finance Minister Mart Opmann and overseen by Mati Sundja, the head of
the census department at the Statistics Office.

Police are still investigating the Statistics Office, and it is not
known how long the process will take, according to Kristo Kelper,
spokesman for the Estonian Police. No individual charges have been
filed yet. Podra remained hopeful that the agreement would resolve
the situation.

"Things are getting a new start," he said.