Privacy

Some believe our privacy is under siege.

Cameras on apartment and home doors, traffic cameras, CCTV in transit, vehicle cameras, red light and speeding cameras, and cameras at toll booths are among the devices that track our movements and actions.

Then there are government institutions, organizations and employers that have so much of our health, financial, workplace, and other personal information.

Of course, there are limits and controls on the gathering, use, and retention of personal information.
At the federal level, there is Bill C-27 which will protect personal information in the private sector. The Bill really encompasses three pieces of what will become new statutes.

The Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA); The Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act (to review decisions made by the federal privacy commissioner and with power to make orders if there is contravention of the CPPA); and The Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (to limit invasion of our privacy by artificial intelligence technology).

The penalties for a security breach and exposure of private information by a private sector organization (such as cell phone company, retailer, money lender) are now very severe (and may go into the tens of millions of dollars).

More generally, at the individual level, to control another’s snooping into our mail, private spaces, and personal information, the common law is increasingly comfortable with allowing for a lawsuit based on intrusion upon seclusion.

Caution: Legal information is not legal advice.
This blog merely provides a general guide to the subject matter.
New and interesting information will be periodically added on this topic.

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