A decision on whether to reinstate husband-and-wife intensive care nurses over their adult Internet site is still pending, but the husband half of the couple is not optimistic about keeping the affair out of court.
If it does come back and make it to law, Bill C-54 would provide strict privacy regulations regarding personal information governments, organizations, and businesses collect. It would also direct the Federal Privacy Commissioner to investigate any alleged privacy abuses.
But here comes the rub: The bill also grants the same privacy commissioner the absolute authority to disregard a critical section of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms - the right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure (except for "extraordinary circumstances" and with a proper warrant), similar to the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment.
"Many activists who tend to view privacy as a fundamental civil liberty or human right are so eager for privacy legislation they have turned a blind eye to the unprecedented investigative powers the bill does give the Privacy Commissioner," says Mark Hughes, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Privacy Issues. "Powers which may, oddly enough, violate the spirit, if not the letter, of that section of the Canadian Constitution from which we derive our right to privacy."
Hughes says Bill C-54 would let the Privacy Commissioner enter "any premises other than a dwelling house" and seize copies or extracts from records found inside without a warrant. "And," Hughes continues, "he is not obligated to meet any minimum legal standard for probable cause before conducting a search or audit; it is sufficient that he alone is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to investigate a matter."
Bill C-54's complete text itself is available at www.parl.gc.ca.
