MIME-ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND: Blame_Canada.mp3
Sigh. Privacy laws almost always assume that computers are
owned by Big Scary Corporations, not by people.
On my pocket organizer, I have a list of over 200\\\94 people and companies,
most of whom have not given informed consent to be entered in my database.
Will that make it illegal for me to bring into Canada?
On my company-owned cell phone, I've got a similar list of ~30 people -
does that mean that I will have to register it with the Canadian authorities
if I take it into Canada? What if I'm just _calling_ Canada?
What if I'm going to a Computers, Freedom, and Privacy conference?
(I'm not going to CFP, but it'd be a good topic for the CFP Cpunks meeting.)
In the US, there are Constitutional protections against unreasonable
searches and seizures of people's papers; the government has tried to
minimize the extent to which this applies to electronic records,
but it's still difficult to do European-style invasive computer searches
except perhaps against corporations (who are creations of the state,
unlike non-corporation businesses like partnerships.)
What triggers a Canadian Privacy Protection Search?
Emailed subpoenas are particularly dangerous, unless implemented carefully -
paper-mailed subpoenas are bad enough. I get mail at enough paper mailboxes
and don't get around to opening all of it, especially junk-looking mail,
and the US Post Office has a habit of bouncing mail that isn't in the correct
Inhibit-Competitive-Mailbox-Service address format.
Email is even less reliable, and more likely to be lost without being read
by a responsible human.
One of the people in my Secret Corporate-Controlled Telephony Database
is a cypherpunk. He once called me, and I answered "Hi, [Pseudonym]"
"How did you know it was me?" "I saved it in my phone the last time you
called".
On the other hand, TPC doesn't have his True Name, unless it's in
my personal email archives on this TPC-owned laptop,
which might also become susceptible to Canadian Privacy Protection Searches.
Bill Stewart
>Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2000 10:04:17 -0500
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>From: Declan McCullagh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: FC: Canadian parliament about to vote on major privacy legislation
>
>>Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2000 07:52:53 -0800
>>From: Chris Wood <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>>Subject: new Canadian law on e-privacy
>>
>>Hey there!
>>
>>I've been enjoying your stuff in Wired; and am delighted to discover
>>politech. You tackle the same kind of issues I hope to target as newly
>>appointed national tech correspondent for Maclean's magazine (rather the
>>equivalent in Canada to Time+Newsweek; see www.macleans.ca). ]
>>
>> Are you aware that the Canadian parliament is to vote shortly (as
>>soon as this week) on a major piece of legislation that will extend
>>Euro-style definitions and obligations of privacy protection to
>>federally regulated businesses and to health providers in Canada. It
>>will also enable e-filing of legal documents (such as your Mattel
>>subpeona) and permit (with tech definitions to come) e-signatures. It
>>will oblige companies collecting personal data to get informed consent
>>for the collection and allow complaints about abuse of personal
>>information to be submitted for investigation to Canada's Privacy
>>Commissioner. A full text of the proposed law, Bill C-6, is at
>>
>>http://www.parl.gc.ca/36/2/parlbus/chambus/house/bills/government/C-6/C-6_
3/C-6_cover-E.html
>>
>>note: as this indicates, the bill passed the Commons (Canada's lower
>>house) but was sent back after being amended in the Senate; it now needs
>>to be voted on again by the Commons to become law.
>>
>>Hope this is of interest. Cheers,
>>
>>Chris Wood
>>National Technology Correspondent
>>Maclean's Magazine
>>(you can also e me at [EMAIL PROTECTED]; my 'work' laptop is ill and my
>>e-mail is forwarded to my private account/cw)
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