To the extent that privacy laws exist today, they apply only to certain categories of personal information such as consumer credit information. Quebec's legislation is one of the options now under consideration by Industry Canada as a basis for federal privacy legislation. The E.U. restrictions contain important loopholes from Canada's perspective for example, the legislation does not require equivalent protection in other countries, it only requires adequate protection. In addition, transfers of personal information from the E.U. are allowed to countries that do not ensure adequate privacy protection under certain circumstances. However, the circumstances are not so broad that Canadian companies can afford to ignore the E.U.'s privacy laws in business that involves European personal information.
Privacy is seen as a human right in Europe.
The North American approach to privacy tends to be more pragmatic, viewing personal information as an economic good to be bartered. Toffler's view certainly rang true for a marketing manager at a large American telecommunications company. The case has major implications for database marketing, an approach that collects personal information to build profiles of individuals. Many sources of information are available for this purpose. The bottom line for businesses is that privacy is a volatile brew a consumer issue that combines rights and money.