The stated objective of Canada’s private sector data protection law reform bill is to balance the privacy rights of individuals with industry’s need to collect and use their personal data. In other words, it is about the vulnerability of individuals in the face of the desire of industry to get the data it wants within a data-lustful economy.

There is no level playing field between individuals and organizations when it comes to data. In order to access many of the services we depend upon (including banking and telecommunications) and increasingly across every human activity, our data are collected and we are tracked and monitored.

We sometimes “consent” to take-it-or-leave-it privacy policies, but there are fewer and fewer contexts in which we have meaningful choices. And our data are used in ways that go beyond providing basic services. Absent adequate data protection law, we are vulnerable

Source: Toronto Daily Star

Date: October 7th, 2022

Link: https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2022/10/07/proposed-data-privacy-law-favour-industry-over-individuals.html

Discussion

1. “strong regulatory frameworks are argued to slow down commerce and innovation, and Canada’s data users have lobbied hard for a soft, flexible approach to data protection. It is an approach premised on the idea that, by-and-large, industry is composed of good actors who have our interests at heart.” Does this make sense
2. Why is personal data privacy so important?