Costa Rica's ICE faces scrutiny over plans to access citizen data

Internal emails have revealed that a department within the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) sought to acquire a service to access extensive personal data on Costa Rican citizens. The requested information included income levels, recent photographs, credit references, judicial processes, spouse names, electoral addresses, and criminal records of individuals and their close relatives, regardless of whether they are ICE customers.

The Centro Coordinador de Operaciones de Emergencia Corporativa (CCOEC), which reports to the Executive Presidency, intended to conduct at least 150 such inquiries per month. The stated justification for this measure was to protect the institution's assets against “events caused by man.” However, critics argue that the scale of the data requested is disproportionate to the stated goal of protecting physical infrastructure like substations or power lines.

Under the Law for the Protection of Personal Data, the processing of personal information must serve legitimate and determined purposes. Concerns have been raised regarding whether the ICE has provided sufficient transparency or justification for why such sensitive and detailed personal information is necessary for its operations.