I have recieved quite a few querys as to what is PIPEDA and what is the jist of it. Below is a good article reproduced from canadian-money-advisor.ca which should help.
PIPEDA stands for The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. It is a Canadian law that was formulated to protect privacy of internet users. It helps in controlling online organizations by regulating the way in which they use the private information they collect about their users. Personal information, according to PIPEDA is defined as any information that can be used to identify an individual. It does not, however, include information on the employees of the organization that collects such information.
The salient points of the PIPEDA law are as follows. Individuals have a right to know what use the information an organization collects about them is put to. Also such an organization is not allowed to use the information for any purpose other than what they agreed to use it for. It is the duty of such an organization to protect the information they collect and the individual has a right of knowing the person or persons in the organization who do this job and they are answerable to the individuals. Another important point of the PIPEDA law is that it requires such information to be complete, up to date and accurate, to prevent any misunderstandings and allow individuals to access the information about them so that they can see for themselves if it is accurate or not.
When any organization collects information on users, the PIPEDA law requires them to obtain consent from the user in order to use this information in any way or disclose it when necessary. PIPEDA also states that the organization is required to supply their services even to individuals who refuse to give them such information unless the service is not possible without such data. PIPEDA ensures that all organizations that collect information on people do so only by fair means and their terms and policies are clearly expressed so that people understand them before using their services.
PIPEDA does not allow you to sue an organization in case you feel that the information was collected, used or distributed by unlawful means. What it does make provisions for is for any individual to make complaints against such organizations to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. It is then the job of the commission to review your case and produce a report stating their findings. The report will also contain a conclusion stating the party at fault. Although such a report cannot be used directly to obtain compensations, it can be used in a federal court when a lawsuit is filed.
The main purpose of the PIPEDA was to reassure the faith of people in e-commerce and completely eliminate the problems of information theft on the net. It has greatly succeeded in this matter. Although it cannot be used directly to sue an organization it has helped in safeguarding the rights of individuals and has assured the European Union that Canadian laws are sufficient to protect the rights of European citizens.
[Source: canadian-money-advisor.ca]
Other reference material: http://geeksandglobaljustice.com/?p=156
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