Elections officials says it believes more than 550 people accessed a voter list at the heart of a massive privacy breach involving an Alberta separatism group.
Elections Alberta says it believes 23 people were given full copies of the list while another 545 accessed it through a searchable database the group made publicly available.
The group, called The Centurion Project, has said its goal was to identify and recruit as many supporters of Alberta independence as possible ahead of an expected referendum this fall.
The database was traced back to an official voter list Elections Alberta had legally distributed to a provincial political party containing the names and addresses of nearly three million Albertans.
Elections Alberta said, somehow, the Republican Party of Alberta’s legitimate copy of a list of electors unlawfully ended up in the hands of The Centurion Project.
Project leader David Parker would not reveal who gave them the list and said the project relied on a third party for the data. It has promised to co-operate with investigators.
The names, addresses and electoral districts of millions of Albertans were posted in a searchable online database for an unknown amount of time.
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The site did not require identity verification and was accessible to anyone who had the link for it. It listed the names and home addresses of the province’s prominent politicians, top elections official, senators, judges and Crown prosecutors and public figures such as journalists.
Elections Alberta says cease-and-desist letters have been issued to people The Centurion Project says accessed the list, while those who had full copies have been ordered to go a step further.
“The 23 people who were provided the list are required to provide a signed declaration they have complied with the direction. They have 48 hours to comply,” Elections Alberta said on Thursday morning.
The database was taken down last week following a court order, and Elections Alberta and RCMP have announced separate investigations into the data breach.
— More to come…
With files from Karen Bartko, Global News
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