We’ve all seen it before. And are likely to see it many times again.

The media contacts an official, government or otherwise, looking for comment. the official declines to provide any insight. The reason? Privacy.

Ordinarily, I think everyone would applaud governmental or non-governmental agencies showing that they take the data they have been entrusted with very seriously. Citizens’ information should not be released without their consent.

Too often though, it appears to me, privacy is a code word for cover up. Wrongdoing has taken place, and the word “privacy’ is used to avoid responsibility or acountability.

The latest example involves a Canadian who received a large tax refund he wasn’t entitled to. An error by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). He immediately realized he was not entitled to the money and returned it to the government.

Who thanked him for his honesty by freezing his account. That’s right. his modest tax refunds the government owes him for 2024 and 2025 have not been issued.

Mistakes happen. Civil servants are human after all. (And when we replace civil servants with AI the mistakes will just get bigger, because AI really doesn’t think.) But you would think this sort of screwup is easily rectifiable.

When the taxpayer went to the media to point out he is being punished for his honesty, the media contacted the CRA. Their response was to say they couldn’t comment due to privacy reasons.

Really? Whose privacy? The taxpayer has already gone to the media and told his story, giving numbers of what he received and what he expects to get in tax refunds. he has given up his privacy in hopes of seeing action from a government agency that is stonewalling him.

So whose privacy? The agency? The government is supposedly committted to transparency.

The employees involved? No-one is asking for them to be publicly shamed. But there is an expectation that civil servants do their job. And they should be disciplined for failing do do their job for no good reason.

We live in a a world with very little expectation of privacy. Our phones are spying on us, but we don’t want to given them up. There are security cameras everywhere, and drones in the sky. Privacy may be our goal, but we know it is unlikely.

Why is the Canadian government trying to hide behind the word privacy to cover up its mistakes? Because it can. Big government, big business and big organizations can do pretty much what they like. And we the people have very few ways to hold them to account.

Sorry to be so depressing on a Wednesday.