- Canada's privacy commissioner has warned in her annual
report that personal freedoms in the country are being eroded by the "war
on terror".
-
- Jennifer Stoddart told parliament that as agencies collected
more information on people, there were higher risks that travellers would
be treated unfairly.
-
- The kinds of security measures taken by the US came in
for particular scrutiny.
-
- Better solutions might lie in using existing information
more effectively, she added.
-
- Mistakes
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- Ms Stoddart said recent US pressure on the Canadian government
to share information with US authorities about all people travelling to
Canada meant there was more of a possibility that people would be wrongly
singled out and treated unfairly.
-
- She warned that mistakes had already been made, possibly
referring to the high-profile case of Arab-Canadian Maher Arar who was
was deported to Syria by the US.
-
- The report also raises concerns about the growing use
of private companies by government national security agencies to collect
personal information about individuals.
-
- The province of British Columbia has already launched
an inquiry into the issue.
-
- This was prompted by fears that a US healthcare company
could have access to personal information about Canadians and then be forced
under the American Patriot Act to turn that information over to US agencies
such as the FBI.
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3984311.stm
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