U.S. Patriot Act Raises Canadian Privacy Fears

[seemslikeadream]

.....

PRIVATIZATION PLAN SPARKED WORRIES

The controversy arose when British Columbia signed a tentative agreement in March to turn its medical record-keeping operations over to the Canadian unit of U.S. information technology firm Maximus Inc. Under Canada's universal health care, the provinces administer the medical system.

Public employee unions and civil libertarians complained the records could become subject to a provision of the Patriot Act that can force U.S. firms to give the FBI a wide range of information without telling the people being investigated.

"The provision can be used against any person, business or organization to obtain any tangible thing," the American Civil Liberties Union warned in its submission to B.C. Information and Privacy Commissioner David Loukidelis.

While the debate rages, the contract with Maximus has not yet been finalized and provincial employees are still handling the records.
The FBI already has access to information on Canadians held in databases based in the United States, and the countries have treaties on sharing other information.

But civil libertarians say the act lets U.S. investigators bypass Canada's federal and provincial privacy protection laws, by forcing U.S. companies to turn over records held by their foreign subsidiaries.

more
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=ourWorldNews&storyID=6397040&pageNumber=0

[PassingFair]

1. Scream, Canada

...scream so loud they can hear you across the Atlantic, then scream for us, too.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. I don't see what all the hubbub is about, their records will at

least be kept on planet earth.... maybe in India, but still... on planet earth.
</sarcasm>

Can you believe this crap? I am sure they have good reason for needing Canadian medical records.... maybe they want to sell them some medicine real cheap. Oh no wait... they already do that... nevermind.

Meanwhile... we can continue to cut our medications in half... I thought free trade was free trade.. and that meant you could buy something from somewhere else regardless the country of origin. My bad.

[arikara]

3. We have the same problems with the "outsourcing" of our jobs

that you have. If the BC gov't hands our medical records over to a foreign company, those are good paying government jobs that are lost to the community. Even though the company says that they will have a Canadian subsidiary handle them the wages of the workers will go from a decent living wage to shitty minimum wage and the profits whisked out of the country. People are protesting that as much as the valid concern over the patriot act.