Mr. Chair, these amendments deal with deleting the lines regarding new warrantless disclosure provisions that go from company to company. As they're drafted in Bill S-4, companies will be able to share the general public's information without our knowledge or consent. Privacy experts are most concerned about this aspect of Bill S-4.
There has been a surge of recent cases of what some people call “copyright trolling”; in other words, companies sending extensive legal letters to customers threatening huge fines for downloading movies that people have never heard of.
As it stands, Bill S-4 would allow involved service providers to offer this information to anyone without the consent of the individual. Therefore, we feel that warrantless, non-notified voluntary disclosures should be removed from the bill.