The Globe and Mail has a story U.S. Patriot Act could affect data on Canadians, B.C. privacy head says by Rod Mickleburgh (Saturday, October 30, 2004 – Page A13 ) about a report by the BC privacy commissioner that concludes that if BC outsourced their health data management or storage then the FBI could get access to that data due to provisions in the Patriot Act. Basically the Patriot act gives US agents the right to ask US companies for access to data they store even if protected by another countries’ privacy regulations. This is likely to affect US companies bidding on services abroad. I suspect we are going to see a slow move among countries to avoid dealing with US telecommunications and data management companies.
In a follow-up story in News | canada.com network titled “Patriot Act fights terror not Canadian privacy rights, says U.S. ambassador”, reports that “Cellucci said the U.S. will review the B.C. report and work with the province and Canada on privacy and protection concerns.” (Dirk Meissner, Canadian Press, Friday, October 29, 2004.)
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