North America
In Canada, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) came into force on January 1, 2001, applicable to private entities regulated by the federal government. All other organizations are included as of January 1, 2004.[21][22] PIDEDA brings Canada into compliance with EU data protection law.
PIPEDA") specifies the rules that guide the collection, use or disclosure of personal information in recognition of the right to privacy of individuals with respect to their personal information. In addition, it specifies the rules for organizations to collect, use and disclose personal information.
PIPEDA") apply to:.
Organizations collect, use or disclose for commercial use.
Organizations and organization employees collect, use, or disclose in guidance of the operation of a federal work, enterprise, or business.
PIPEDA") DOES NOT apply to:.
Government institutions to which the Privacy Law applies.
Individuals who collect, use or disclose personal information for personal purposes and uses.
Organizations that collect, use or disclose only for journalistic, artistic or literary purposes.
As specified in PIPEDA:
“Personal information” means information about an identifiable individual, but does not include the name, title, business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization.
“Organization” means an association, a society, a person and a union.
“Federal work, undertaking or business” means any work, undertaking or business which is within the legislative authority of Parliament. Including:.
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- A job, enterprise or business that is operated or carried out for or in connection with navigation and transportation, whether land or sea, including the operation of ships and transportation by ship in any part of Canada.
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- A railway, canal, telegraph or other work or company that connects a province with another province or extends beyond the limits of a province.
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- A ship line that connects one province with another province or that extends beyond the limits of a province.
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- A raft between one province and another province or between a province and a country other than Canada.
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- Aerodrome, aircraft or an air transport line.
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- A work which, although entirely situated within a province, before or after its execution declared by Parliament to be for the general benefit of Canada or for the benefit of two or more provinces.
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- A work, company or business outside the exclusive legislature of the provinces.
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- A job, enterprise or business to which federal laws apply, within the meaning of section 2 of the Oceans Act, applies within section 20 of that Act and any regulation made under paragraph 26(1)(k) of that Act.
PIPEDA grants individuals the right to:.
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- Understand the reasons why organizations collect, use or disclose personal information.
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- Have organizations collect, use or disclose personal information in a reasonable and appropriate manner.
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- Understand who is responsible for protecting the personal information of individuals in the organization.
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- Ensure that organizations protect personal information in a reasonable and secure manner.
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- Ensure that personal information held by organizations is accurate, complete and up-to-date.
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- Have access to your personal information and request any correction or have the right to submit complaints to organizations.
PIPEDA requires organizations to:.
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- Obtain consent before collecting, using and disclosing any personal information.
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- Collect personal information in a reasonable, appropriate and legal manner.
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- Establish personal information policies that are clear, reasonable and available to protect people's personal information.
Main article: United States Privacy Law").
Data privacy is not widely legislated or regulated in the US[23] . In the United States, access to private data content, such as third-party credit reports, may be sought when seeking employment or health care, or when making purchases on credit terms. Although there are partial regulations, there is no comprehensive law regulating the acquisition, storage, or use of personal data in the U.S. Generally speaking, in the U.S., anyone who has the trouble of entering the data is considered to have the right to store and use the data, even if the data was collected without permission, except to the extent they are regulated by laws and rules, such as provisions of the Federal Communications Act and the implementing rules of the Federal Communications Commission, which regulate the use of customer-owned network information" (CPNI). For example, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act of 1998 (COPPA), and the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA) are examples of U.S. federal law provisions that tend to promote the efficiency of information flow.
The Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution to grant a right to privacy to individuals in Griswol v. Connecticut "Griswold (Connecticut)"). However, very few states recognize the right to privacy of individuals, especially California. The inalienable right to privacy is enshrined in Article 1, Section 1 of the California Constitution, and the California legislature has enacted several laws designed to protect this right. The California Online Privacy Protection Act (OPPA) of 2003 requires operators of commercial websites or online services that collect personal information from California residents through a website to conspicuously post a privacy policy on the website and to comply with its policy.
The International Safe Harbor Principles were developed by the United States Department of Commerce to provide a means for American companies to demonstrate compliance with European Commission Directives and thus simplify relations between them and European companies.[24].
Recently, lawmakers in several states have proposed laws to change the way online companies handle user information. Among those generating significant attention are several "Do Not Track" legislations and the Right to Know Law (California's Bill AB 1291). The California Right to Know Act, if passed, would require all companies that continue to store user information to provide their users with a copy of the stored information upon request.[25] The bill faced strong opposition from trade groups such as Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, and did not. It was approved.[26].
On June 28, 2018, the California legislature passed AB 375, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, effective January 1, 2020.[27] If the law is not amended before it goes into effect, the California Consumer Privacy Act, AB. 375 - grants California residents a series of new rights, beginning with the right to be informed about what types of personal data will be collected by the company and why it is collected.[28].
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) was enacted by the US Congress in 1996 and is also known as the Kennedy-Kassebaum Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA- Public Law 104-191), effective August 21, 1996. The basic idea of HIPPA is that an individual who is a subject of identifiable health information individually must have:.
• - Established procedures for the exercise of individual health information privacy rights.
• - The use and disclosure of individual health information must be authorized or required.
A difficulty with HIPPA is that there must be an authentication mechanism for the patient who requests access to their data. As a result, medical mechanisms that make it easier to obtain Social Security Number requests from patients, possibly decreasing privacy by simplifying the process of correlating health records with other records. The issue of consent is problematic under HIPPA, because medical providers simply make care contingent on agreement with privacy standards in practice.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act applies the principles of the Code of Fair Reporting Practices to credit reporting agencies. FCRA allows individuals to opt out of receiving unwanted credit offers:
• - Equifax (888) 567-8688 Equifax Options, P.O. Box 74'123 Atlanta GA 20274-0123.
• - Experian(800) 353-0809 or (888) 5OPTOUT P.O. Box 919, Allen, TX 75013.
• - TransUnion(800) 680-7293 or (888) 5OPTOUT P.O. Box 97328, Jackson MS 39238.
Because of the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, everyone can get a free annual credit report.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act has been effective in preventing the proliferation of misleading private credit directories. Before 1970, private credit directories offered detailed, if unreliable, information about easily identifiable individuals.[29] Before the Fair Credit Reporting Act, unsubstantiated lewd material could be included, and in fact, gossip was widely included in credit reports. EPIC has an FCRA page. The Consumer Data Industry Association, which represents the consumer reporting industry, also has a website with FCRA information.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act provides consumers with the ability to view, correct, respond to, and limit reporting uses of credit reports. FCRA also protects the credit agency from the charge of negligent release in case of false statement by the applicant. Credit agencies should ask the applicant the purpose of the requested information disclosure, but should make no effort to verify the veracity of the applicant's statements. In fact, courts have ruled that, “The Act clearly does not provide a remedy for the unlawful or abusive use of consumer information” (Henry v Forbes, 1976). It is widely believed that to avoid FCRA, Equifax created ChoicePoint, at which point the parent company copied all of its records to its newly created subsidiary. ChoicePoint is not a credit reporting agency and therefore the FCRA does not apply.[30].
The Fair Debt Collection Practices Act similarly limits the dissemination of information about a consumer's financial transactions. It prevents creditors or their agents from disclosing the fact that an individual is indebted to a third party, although it allows creditors and their agents to attempt to obtain information about a debtor's location. It limits the actions of those seeking payment of a debt. For example, debt collection agencies are prohibited from harassing or contacting people in the The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (which actually eliminated consumer protections, for example, in bankruptcy as a result of medical costs) limited some of these controls on debtors.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) establishes criminal penalties for the interception of electronic communications. However, the legislation has been criticized for lack of impact due to loopholes.
Some of the laws, regulations and directives related to the protection of information systems are summarized below:
• - 1970 US Fair Credit Reporting Act").
• - 1970 US Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act").
• - 1974 Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)").
• - 1974 US Privacy Act").
• - 1980 Guidelines of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)").
• - 1984 US Medical Computer Crimes Act.
• - 1984 US Federal Computer Crimes Act (reinforced in 1986 and 1994).
• - 1986 US Computer Fraud and Abuse Act") (amended in 1986, 1994, 1996 and 2001).
• - 1986 US Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA).
• - 1987 U.S. Computer Security Act") (repealed by the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002")).
• - 1988 US Video Privacy Protection Act").
• - 1990 UK Computer Misuse Act").
• - 1991 US Federal Sentencing Guidelines").
• - 1992 OECD Guidelines of 1992 to serve as a comprehensive security framework.
• - 1994 Law Enforcement Communications Assistance Act").
• - 1995 Data Protection Council Directive for the European Union (EU).
• - 1996 US Economic and Private Information Protection Act").
• - 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (requirement added December 2000).
• - 1998 US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).
• - 1999 US Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act (UCITA)").
• - 2000 US Congressional Electronic Signatures in Global National Commerce Act ("ESIGN").
• - 2001 Uniting and strengthening America by providing appropriate tools to restrict, intercept and obstruct terrorism (USA PATRIOT).
• - 2002 Homeland Security Act (HSA)").
• - 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002").
Several U.S. federal agencies have privacy statutes that cover their collection and use of private information. These include the Census Bureau, the Internal Revenue Service, and the National Center for Educational Statistics (under the Education Sciences Reform Act). Additionally, the CIPSEA statute protects the confidentiality of data collected by federal statistical agencies.