There are simply no rules or regulations inside the United States that set limits on how invasive consumer software can be. Under Canada's newly enacted C-6 privacy legislation, for example, there is a requirement for Canadian firms to inform their customers about what kind of personal information is collected and how it is protected, and to make sure that it is discarded when it is no longer needed. Canada's Tough New Privacy Rules Newsbyte s notes that the tough new Canadian online privacy law known as Bill C-6 will impact American and foreign firms doing business in Canada. Demographics on Tap Web banner mogul DoubleClick found itself in hot water with privacy advocates in Feb. 2000, after it was revealed that the company had purchased a huge customer database of names and email addresses from Abacus Direct Corp., and was tying this data to IP addresses collected anonymously via cookies from its banner sites. USA Today has details on this privacy scandal and why some privacy advocates are angry enough that they're filing formal complaints with the FTC over the affair.
Websites often have privacy statements that, on examination, are quite the opposite.
The European Union has taken the regulatory concept to the point of guarding all data transfers to and from European Union states. Using a Data Protection Directive established in 1998, they restrict the ability of these countries to exchange data with any other jurisdiction, including Canada, unless certain privacy protection measures are in place. This directly challenged Canada's private sector on its ability and willingness to participate in world markets and was a factor that led to Canada's The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act , better known as the C-6 privacy legislation, which received Royal Assent on April 13, 2000. Before it came into effect, Quebec was the the only province in Canada with comprehensive privacy legislation covering the private sector. Ironically, services such as one called Marketplace that Lotus Development tried to roll out several years ago, but was forced to abandon due to overwhelming criticism from privacy advocates, are proliferating in the Internet age.