Privacy

By Martin Stone, Newsbytes

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA A tough new Canadian law regarding online
privacy tobe enacted this week will impact American and foreign firms
doing business in Canada.

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act,
better known as C-6, requires foreign firms doing business in the
country to adhere to a strict set of privacy guidelines. The bill
closes a gap that existed in Canadian law. Until this act, no Canadian
federal legislation protected personal information in the private
sector, but such data is federally guarded in the public sector.

Al Decker, CEO and co-founder of Fiderus, an IT security and privacy
consulting firm based in North Carolina's Research Triangle district,
said in a statement that, "New regulatory measures are emerging around
the world. Whoever can navigate these measures, however, will be able
to move themselves past their competition and take advantage of the
tremendous growth potential that exists in these markets. Between the
EU's 'Safe Harbor' provisions across the Atlantic and these
regulations coming out of Ottawa, privacy challenges are growing."

C-6 establishes rules governing the collection, use and disclosure of,
as well as access to, personal information in the private sector. The
implementation marks the first step in a three-year
process. Businesses in federally regulated industries (telecom,
financial services, airlines, etc.) must immediately comply with the
law. Medical information falls under the rule in 12 months, followed
by all remaining commercial businesses that handle information on
Jan. 1, 2004.

Decker said the new regulations present challenges to companies hoping
to succeed in online commerce because user-confidence in security
systems is taking on ever-growing importance.

"Privacy is more than just a necessary part of doing business in the
online world," he said. "Privacy, along with security, are the two
critical ingredients in customer confidence."

More information is available at http://www.fiderus.com