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So, it seems Conservative government is wee bit gun-shy to moveforward on its proposed amendments to Canada's private-sectorprivacy law. The bill was tabled by Industry Minister ChristianParadis way back in September 2011 and has been languishing thereever since First Reading. C-12, amending the Personal Information Protection and ElectronicDocuments Act (PIPEDA), was already outdated by the time the government got around to tabling the bill . (The proposed amendments date back to a 2006 review process; aPIPEDA review is required every five years under the law).Canada's privacy commissioner has been vocal about how theworld has moved on since the 2006 review, so more sweeping changesare needed to the act to protect the personal info of customers. But that would require a substantive shift , moving away from the ombudsmen model for Canada's privacywatchdog. Wonder what Paradis thinks about this? Paradis hasn't uttereda word about the matter. He may not want to weigh in on any aspectof C-12, given the disastrous roll-out of the government'slawful access bill earlier this year. C-30, sprearheaded (for now)by Public Safety Minister Vic Toews, is also parked inparliamentary limbo after Toews torpedoed his own bill with hisbullish attempt to sell the virtues of warrantless access. C-12 covers lots of things, including "lawful authority" to personal info . Under PIPEDA, telecom companies are permitted to disclose"personal info" without the knowledge or consent of theindividual in certain specified circumstances. As lawyer PhilippaLawson, a privacy specialist, explains here , this includes if the disclosure is "made to a governmentinstitution… that has made a request for the information,identified its lawful authority to obtain the information andindicated that… ii) the disclosure is requested for thepurpose of… carrying out the investigation related to theenforcement of any such law [of Canada, a province or a foreignjurisdiction]…" In C-12, the Tories are proposing toclarify the meaning of "lawful authority" by statingexplicitly that it does NOT mean a court order or warrant. So, is the government sitting on this bill because it's justnot ready for another privacy fight it's bound to lose? Or isit still recovering from the beating it took over the warrantlessaccess provisions in C-30 (currently in the repair shop)? Or if thegovernment quietly preparing its own amendments to C-12? One option is to put off C-12 altogether and roll the proposedamendments into the second review of PIPEDA, which was supposed tostart in 2011 as per the law but has yet to start. Paradis isn't saying anything — except canned quotesthrough one of his spokespersons. The comments, though, areactually quite amusing and worth reading, pasted below. So what does Paradis think about Canada's privacycommissioner's view that C-12 is outdated and that PIPEDAneeds to empower the office of the privacy watchdog to imposepenalties on companies in cases of serious data breaches? Dodge #1: "Our Government is focused on job creation andlong-term prosperity. We are building a modern legal framework thatwill enhance consumer confidence in the online marketplace andsupport the growht of Canada's digital economy. The PersonalInformation Protection and Electronic Documents Act underwent areview that led to the drafting of Bill C-12, which is currentlybefore Parliament." So why the long delay in C-12? Why is it stalled? Dodge #2: "Our first priority is passing our job creatingmeasures for all Canadians, unfortunately, NDP and Liberal anticsare holding up everything else. A modern legal framework isessential to the growth of Canada's digital economy; if theopposition is ready to get to work we can send this legislation tocommittee immediately. I urge the opposition to join us, pass thisbill and help protect Canadian consumers and businesses." I'm assuming Paradis knows bills don't go from FirstReading to committee (and is aware that the Government House Leaderactually has some control over the Parliamentary schedule). Butheck, that's quite the condemnation of parliamentaryshenanigans by the opposition about a bill tabled in September,many months before any budget bill. So, I asked specifically about steps the opposition parties took toblock the bill from moving to Second Reading to stymie C-12. Dodge #3: No reply. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as Stainless Steel Nuts and Bolts , Bathroom Partitions Hardware, and more. For more , please visit Custom Machined Parts today!
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