Nova Scotia US Patriot Act move
p2pnet.net News:- Legislation to ensure personal information in Nova Scotia, Canada, isn’t disclosed under the US Patriot Act was proclaimed today.
"The new Personal Information International Disclosure Protection Act outlines a series of requirements and penalties that protect personal information from inappropriate disclosure," says the province.
The act, which provides protection regarding storage, disclosure and access to personal information outside of Canada or in the custody or under the control of a public body or municipality, works for government, school boards, universities, district health authorities and other public bodies immediately, today and on November 15, 2007 for municipalities.
"Under the act, the minister of Justice must be notified if there is a foreign demand for disclosure of any personal information of Nova Scotians," says a statement.
"It also requires that service providers storing information only collect and use personal information necessary for their work for a public body or municipality.
"The act also address whistleblower protection for employees of external service providers to ensure they are protected if they report an offense under the act. Whistleblower protection for Nova Scotia government staff already exists under the Civil Service Act."
Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has just abandoned the US RefWorks server in favour of another at the University of Toronto.
There are serious concerns about, "a foreign country having access to your personal information without good cause," says university librarian William Maes.
"That’s the devious thing of the Patriot Act, they can do this without letting anybody know."
Penalties under the new Nova Scotia act include up to $2,000 per government employee for malicious disclosure by employees of public bodies and municipalities. The act also creates offences for service providers, with penalties of up to $2,000 for employees and $500,000 for companies.
Offences relate to the improper storage, collection, use, or disclosure, failure to notify the minister of Justice of foreign disclosure demands, and improper discipline or termination of employees.
"Information sessions have been held in Truro and Halifax over the past month to educate partners and stakeholders about the provisions of the act," says the province.
Also See:
Nova Scotia – Protection of Privacy Legislation Proclaimed, November 15, 2006
has just abandoned – Canadian ‘Patriot Act’ fears, November 13, 2006
p2pnet newsfeeds for your site.
rss feed: http://p2pnet.net/p2p.rss
Mobile – http://p2pnet.net/index-wml.php
November 17th, 2006 at 3:15 am
Yet sometimes I am getting routes between two Canadian endpoints through US while the packets should clearly stay within Canada.