The disastrous privacy consequences of Bill C-51

University of Ottawa law professor Michael Geist outlines the dangers to privacy Canadians face with the impending passage of Bill C-51 (Total Information Awareness”: The Disastrous Privacy Consequences of Bill C-51, Michael Geist blog, 19 February 2015).

In his post, Professor Geist lists three ways the new bill threatens the privacy of Canadians:

First, the bill permits information sharing across government for an incredibly wide range of purposes, most of which have nothing to do with terrorism (“It is, quite simply, the broadest concept of security that we have ever seen codified into law in Canada.”).

Second, the scope of sharing is remarkably broad: 17 government institutions with the prospect of cabinet expansion as well as further disclosure “to any person, for any purpose.”

Third, the oversight over public sector privacy has long been viewed as inadequate. In fact, calls for Privacy Act reform date back over three decades. The notion that the law is equipped to deal with this massive expansion in sharing personal information is simply not credible.

Read the full article here: “Total Information Awareness”: The Disastrous Privacy Consequences of Bill C-51

Photo credit: Dustin Ginetz, Flickr