Public Safety committee  That's a loaded question. The practical effect has probably been a good one in Canada. The perception is that Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada bring different perspectives to the table. Given the complexity of copyright, having two departments seeking to work through some of

Public Safety committee  If I might just add, the more difficult challenge we face in developing the appropriate policy is ensuring that all stakeholders are heard. Certain groups are well able to ensure that their voices are heard. They have the dollars, the lobbyists, and so on. There are stakeholder

Public Safety committee  It's an interesting example of the timelines and shift in perspective on some of these issues. That was proposed fairly recently and made its way through the European Parliament quite quickly. Over the last two to three weeks, thousands of Europeans signed petitions, calling on

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. I didn't distribute anything, but I do have some remarks.

Information & Ethics committee  Thanks. I'll speed through this quickly. I apologize for not having submitted my remarks in advance, but I'm happy to distribute them now. Let me just go through this quickly. My name is Michael Geist. As you heard, I'm a law professor at the University of Ottawa, where I hold

Information & Ethics committee  The short answer--and I think for some the rather depressing answer--is that there are no absolute assurances. I think the current environment, where our personal data does traverse national borders with ease, to the point that your information is in different parts of the world,

Information & Ethics committee  Certainly you find in countries around the world that many of the standards of privacy legislation are derived from the same basic principles, many of them from the early 1980s with the OECD. The notion of the destruction of documents, that you're going to flush certain personal

Information & Ethics committee  My critics would tell you I'm not well informed about any of the above. I would say that I've come to the privacy issue from a technological perspective. What I have found in the five years I have been the chair and in the about ten years I've been at the University of Ottawa f

Information & Ethics committee  I think that's right. That's why I focused on things like cross-border data transfers, security breaches, and the like.

Information & Ethics committee  Anybody who tells you they know for sure what's in store is probably lying, or just just guessing at best. What has become clear--and we certainly see this from jurisdictions and privacy commissioners from around the world--is that we are collecting ever more data. The ability to

Information & Ethics committee  I think we do have a sense of where we are moving from a technological perspective--at least how it's going to impact privacy. There is broad agreement on the fact that there is a scope for greater collection, greater use. Some of that is very good, but there are some potential n

Information & Ethics committee  There are a few I didn't highlight because I don't feel I'm in as good a position to make that kind of recommendation. You were talking with a witness earlier about the discontinuance of complaints. I have some concerns about that in the context of PIPEDA. I have similar concerns

Information & Ethics committee  As I mentioned, I focused on that, both at PIPEDA and here as well. From my perspective, the Privacy Commissioner plays a critically important role in ensuring adequate enforcement, from both private sector and public sector perspectives. On the private sector side, issuing nothi

Information & Ethics committee  I think the prospect of fines and the like may have some impact, but I think a conduct-based order-making power is more essential. Both in a private sector and in a public sector environment, it's the ability to compel certain kinds of action.

Information & Ethics committee  The Privacy Commissioner has already told you she doesn't want it--