| There is significant and pressing interest
and public concern about privacy implications of the USA
Patriot Act for British Columbians’ personal
information involved in the outsourcing of public
services to US-lined private sector privacy companies.
The United States Congress passed the USA Patriot Act
soon after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It
gives new investigative powers to law enforcement
agencies in the US. Click
here to see the USA Patriot Act.
Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act has received a lot
of attention. It allows a special court to secretly
issue an order requiring “the production of any
tangible things” to the FBI. This can include an
individual’s personal information. Anyone served with
such a secret order is prohibited from disclosing to
anyone else that the order exists or has been complied
with.
The Information and Privacy Commissioner is examining
issues related to the USA Patriot Act and British
Columbians’ personal information––including but
not limited to section 215 of the USA Patriot Act––
by addressing the following questions:
- Does the USA Patriot Act permit United States
authorities to access personal information of
British Columbians that is, through the outsourcing
of public services, in the custody or under the
control of USA-linked private sector service
providers? If it does, under what conditions
can this occur?
- If it does, what are the implications for public
body compliance with the personal privacy
protections in the Freedom of Information and
Protection of Privacy Act? What measures can be
suggested to eliminate or appropriately mitigate
privacy risks affecting compliance with the Freedom
of Information and Protection of Privacy Act?
The Commissioner is seeking submissions on these
questions. Click
here for the Commissioner’s invitation for
submissions and for background material (including an
ACLU opinion about the USA Patriot Act).
The deadline for submissions is now August 6, 2004.
Click here for
submissions (which are posted as they are received).
We regret that, due to the overwhelming number of
submissions we have received, we are unable to post them
all. All submissions will, however, be read and
considered by the Commissioner.
These documents are in .pdf format and require Acrobat Reader to view. Please download
the latest version of the free Acrobat Reader software at this link:
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