Privacy Commissioner affirms CIPPIC’s complaints against US Databroker

Today, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released its finding on CIPPIC’s privacy complaint against Abika.com, a US databroker.  The Privacy Commissioner found that the complaint was well-founded, and called on Abika to stop collecting personal information of Canadians without their informed consent.  The is significant in that it involved an appeal by CIPPIC to the Federal Court to establish that the Privacy Commissioner had jurisdiction to investigate complaints relating to transborder flows of personal information.  Additionally, it led to a cooperative investigation between the Privacy Commissioner and the US Federal Trade Commission into the practices of Abika.

• Report of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Findings against Abika