Canadian ‘privacy breach’ notification
p2pnet.net News:- Of an estimated 49 million Americans notified of unauthorized access to their personal information during the past three years, about 9.3 million believe something bad happened to them as a result of the breach, said a recent Harris Interactive poll.
With that in mind, CIPPIC (Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic) is calling for the federal government to introduce legislation compelling organizations to notify people if and when their personal information is exposed through a security breach.
Absence of a, “clear requirement for notification in the case of security breaches is a glaring gap in our existing data protection law,” says CIPPIC director Philippa Lawson.
Approaches to Security Breach Notification, a CIPPC white paper released today, reviews breach notification laws enacted by over thirty American states so far, and argues that the federal government should have similar protections in place for Canadians.
As things stand, there’s no market incentive for organizations to admit to security breaches if they don’t have to, says Lawson, and victims will probably never know meaning they won’t be able to take measures to prevent subsequent fraud in their name.
“A Canadian law is needed requiring that organizations notify individuals when their personal information has been compromised as a result of a breach of the organization’s security,” says the white paper.
“In particular, it calls for an amendment to the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (’PIPEDA’) to provide for mandatory notification of security breaches when certain types of personal information are exposed to unauthorized access as a result of a security breach.”
Without the prospect of costly notification and reputational loss, there’s less incentive for organizations to beef up their security, says Lawson.
Also See:
O’Reilly News – Blog-savvy French set for cyberbattle in 2007 poll , January 9, 2006
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