Privacy Commissioner of Canada on C-61

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada has released a letter she wrote in response in concerns about Bill C-61.  Commissioner Stoddart expresses clear concern about the anti-circumvention provisions, noting that:

the amendments would allow companies to use digital rights management (DRM) software on media sold to Canadian consumers.  These tools have been used in the past to collect personal information without users' knowledge or consent.  DRM software has also been shown to create other security problems.  These practices largely ignore the principles found in Canada’s private-sector privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act.  As a result, I have asked the Ministers who oversee the copyright file to consider the privacy implications of any new law.