One Canadian province is sounding the alarm over whether or not a U.S. anti-terrorism law invades its citizens’ privacy, which could affect the way American firms do business with our neighbors to the north.
According to Reuters’ Allan Dowd, British Columbia’s top privacy official, Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis, is currently probing complaints that the U.S. Patriot Act allows the FBI to use U.S. firms with foreign subsidiaries to gain access to Canadians’ medical and financial records. Dowd says B.C. is one of the first foreign jurisdictions to look at the Act outside of the U.S.
In March, the province signed a tentative agreement to turn its medical record-keeping operations over to the Canadian unit of American IT firm Maximus, but that act drew criticism from public employee unions and civil libertarians. Dowd says that civil libertarians in both the U.S. and Canada “say Canada must take steps to protect its citizens’ private information, but U.S. security officials and firms that collect and store personal data say the fears are overblown.”
Loukidelis is due to release a report later this month to say whether he believes the fears about the U.S. law are valid, and to give his recommendations to address those concerns. The law, enacted after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, gives the FBI broad powers to collect information from companies without letting the subject of the probe know he/she is under investigation.
To read the full Reuters report, click here:
http://www.boston.com/news/world/canada/articles/2004/10/03/us_patriot_act_raises_canadian_privacy_fears/