Later this month, Canada's Federal Court will hear a case that has the potential to radically change the nation's privacy protections, reports the Toronto Star. Law Professor and regular Star columnist Michael Geist says State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. will argue that Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), enacted in 2000, oversteps the federal government's jurisdictional power. The case stems from a 2005 State Farm customer's request to know which third parties had access to his personal information, which State Farm refused to provide. Geist writes that "if successful, PIPEDA would no longer apply to thousands of Canadian businesses and new legislation such as the Electronic Commerce Protection Act (ECPA) would be imperilled."
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