Finding out about PIPEDA

PIPEDA is an acronym that stands for the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. These are Canadian federal privacy laws that are meant to regulate the private sector organizations operating in Canada or that deal with Canadian citizens.

PIPEDA targets any business that collects personally identifiable information from Canadian citizens. Examples of such information include names, age, medical history, comments, opinions, ethnicity, and marital status. The PIPEDA laws are based on 10 fair information principles that require that businesses obtain the consent of the users before they can engage in data collection and l use. The laws also require that all companies that engage in this data collection exercise be transparent as to the reasons for and purpose of the data collection. Under the PIPEDA laws, Canadians have the right to demand access to their information and challenge the accuracy of this data.

The PIPEDA laws also hold...