Debating Canada's privacy legislation

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Mon, 02 Feb 2004 06:23:03 -0500
From: Michael Geist <mgeist () pobox com>
Subject: Debating Canada's privacy legislation
X-Sender: mgeist () mailbox uottawa ca
To: dave () farber net

Dave,

A couple of weeks ago, I ran a column defending Canada's privacy 
legislation, which has recently come under constitutional attack.  The 
defense of PIPEDA column raised some significant debate which continues in 
Canada.  In today's Toronto Star, the paper features a rebuttal of that 
column by Richard Owens of the University of Toronto along with my 
response. Owens argues that PIPEDA "tarnishes lawmaking, impedes business 
unnecessarily and threatens constitutional disorder", while I continue to 
defend the privacy statute,  maintaining that the historical record 
suggests that business actively supported the law and the establishment of 
a national standard in its current form.

Original column is at
<http://shorl.com/dukuhagytrasu> [Toronto Star]

Owens rebuttal at
<http://www.shorl.com/habreryjiprano> [Toronto Star]

Federal privacy law is a dog's breakfast

RICHARD OWENS
SPECIAL TO THE STAR

The costs of the Quebec government's constitutional challenge to the 
federal privacy law are too high, Michael Geist argued in his Jan. 19 
column in this newspaper. He fears the consequence, that the law may be 
struck down and replaced with a patchwork of provincial laws.

But are those costs really too high? There are several good reasons to 
doubt it. The federal legislation does its job poorly; provincial 
legislatures might offer legislation that does the job better; and the 
structure of the federal legislation itself encourages a patchwork of laws.

[snip]

Geist response at
<http://www.shorl.com/habykihevadu> [Toronto Star]

Canada badly needs a national standard

MICHAEL GEIST
LAW BYTES

The costs associated with privacy protection have long been a source of 
considerable debate. Ann Cavoukian, Ontario's Privacy Commissioner, who 
together with the Toronto Star's Tyler Hamilton wrote The Privacy 
Payoff,maintains that good privacy practices are actually good for business.
In my column of January 19, I argued maintaining a federal privacy law was 
essential since the provincial mish-mash of laws that would fill the void 
would create uncertainty and costs for the business and privacy communities.

[snip]

MG

**********************************************************************
Professor Michael A. Geist
Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law
University of Ottawa Law School, Common Law Section
Technology Counsel, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
57 Louis Pasteur St., P.O. Box 450, Stn. A, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5
Tel: 613-562-5800, x3319     Fax: 613-562-5124
mgeist () pobox com              http://www.michaelgeist.ca

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