Personal information is valuable. There may well be cases in which such a penalty constitutes nothing more than a cost of doing business, from the perspective of the wrongdoer. Given the invisible nature of privacy violations, audits are an important tool for obtaining compliance, and should be available even where no complaints have been received. Even if our legislators get it right, Bill C-54 can only go so far. Not only is the federal government limited by the constitution and political realities within Canada, but domestic legislation can only address a fraction of this worldwide problem.
Multinational firms require multinational responses.
It's therefore essential that countries work together to develop consistent, comprehensive laws and enforcement mechanisms for the protection of personal information. The creation now of a conceptual rubric under which privacy can be protected, both legally as well as ethically, will be as important to the functioning of western democracy at the end of the twentieth century as was the existence of a viable concept of freedom of speech at its beginning.