Thursday, June 24, 2004

Campaign in BC to prevent outsourcing of medical info management to US company

The BC Freedom of Information and Privacy Association has a report about a campaign launched to prevent the BC government from ousourcing the management of the BC Medical Services Plan to an American company. The fear is that once the info is in the hands of an American firm, it will be within easy reach of the FBI and others, thanks to the USA PATRIOT Act.

'Right to Privacy Campaign' launched to protect individuals' privacy by stopping Maximus deal:

A diverse and growing group of rights, health, union and other organizations has launched a province-wide campaign to demand that the BC government drop its proposed deal with the Maximus corporation because of the privacy implications of the USA PATRIOT Act.

The Right to Privacy Campaign (RPC) believes that contracting out the administrative functions of BC's Medical Services Plan and PharmaCare to the American corporation Maximus Inc. will place British Columbians' confidential health and related information within easy reach of the FBI and, through the FBI, the entire array of American government agencies.

The primary goal of the RPC is to ensure that there is 'no contracting out by the Government of BC of information or information management, such as MSP or PharmaCare, to any company subject to foreign laws that violate the privacy rights of Canadians, like the USA PATRIOT Act'...."

Unfortunately, the website of the Right to Privacy Campaign seems to be down, which I expect would have much more info.

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