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PRIVATIZATION PLAN SPARKED WORRIES
The controversy arose when British Columbia signed a tentative agreement in March to turn its medical record-keeping operations over to the Canadian unit of U.S. information technology firm Maximus Inc. Under Canada's universal health care, the provinces administer the medical system.
Public employee unions and civil libertarians complained the records could become subject to a provision of the Patriot Act that can force U.S. firms to give the FBI a wide range of information without telling the people being investigated.
"The provision can be used against any person, business or organization to obtain any tangible thing," the American Civil Liberties Union warned in its submission to B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis.
While the debate rages, the contract with Maximus has not yet been finalized and provincial employees are still handling the records.
The FBI already has access to information on Canadians held in databases based in the United States, and the countries have treaties on sharing other information.
But civil libertarians say the act lets U.S. investigators bypass Canada's federal and provincial privacy protection laws, by forcing U.S. companies to turn over records held by their foreign subsidiaries.
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