Privacy Commissioner to look at Canadian data sharing with the United States

Further to my earlier posting, PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy Law: U.S. security files with Cdn data off-limits (and vice-versa), the Ottawa Citizen is reporting that that Federal Privacy Commissioner is on the case:

Ottawa Citizen - canada.com network:

"Canada's Privacy Commissioner has launched an examination of the cross-border flow of personal information hastened by the war on terror.

The commissioner's first-ever such audit will focus on information about Canadians that's being sent to United States security agencies via the Canadian Border Services Agency....

Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said the audit will help Canadians understand where their personal information is going, how it is being used in the U.S. and what safeguards or limits are in place.

"It's a fairly modest incursion into this world," Ms. Stoddart said in describing the audit which is expected to be completed late this year.

Details are now being negotiated with officials from the border services agency.

Ms. Stoddart said the exercise will also help her to understand the extent of her office's statutory powers and what needs to be done to burnish them in future.

"I felt we had to attempt to do this," she said...."