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Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA)

Protecting yourself against Identity Theft

A recent article posted in the National Post raised concerns regarding a current debate by a committee at Industry Canada, which currently regulates the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Document Act (PIPEDA) and has not brought forth mandatory conditions for such organizations as banks, businesses and retailers to advise clients that their credit or identity has been breached or compromised.

These organizations who want to protect their interests so that clients do not become wary should be more concerned about ensuring security for their clientele.  However, without legislation they are the sole decision makers with your credit.  And it would be interesting to find out who is the person at these companies that makes our decisions. 

At present, the banks, businesses and retailers have carte blanche in deciding whether or not they disclose a breach or compromise of your credit and identity when they become aware of it.  As reported in the article, the procedure does appear backward. After all PIPEDA ensures that your personal information and electronic documents are protected under specific legislation with rules and regulations.  However the knowledge of such breaches of your information is not addressed.  As a consumer, I believe that if such a breach has occurred that the consumer should be the first person notified.  The situation is under debate currently with a committee at Industry Canada and the Privacy Office.

In many professions, the utter thought of PIPEDA threatened the very core of their businesses.  They paid thousands of dollars to hire lawyers and obtain designation for their livelihood.  Naturally, the banks and retailers were the first to obtain such designation long before smaller industries.  And now the forefathers of designation have the right to decide whether or not to tell you that your personal information has been infringed upon.  With the number of identity thefts occurring in Canada with an estimated cost of 16 million dollars in 2006, and over 7 million dollars of it in Ontario, this situation is very real and terrifying.  As Industry Canada continues their debate as to whether or not a breach must be reported, thousands of more people have their identity stolen and fraudsters continue to earn record high incomes through these breaches.

The war against such fraud should be at the forefront as the repercussions for an individual who lives day to day to pay their way in life are sacrificed.  In many cases, you may not know your credit or identity has been stolen until 6 months or more after the breach.  Especially in cases where you do not detect it for a long period of time, when you make the discovery, it is overwhelming, the loss is out of control and it may take you months, if not years to recover your losses.  At this point your dignity, your belief in any system and the financial pressure can be devasting.  The countless number of individuals that have made me aware of identity theft through many walks of life, has confirmed that we face a long hard road to recognize, report and stop these types of thefts.

Protect your identity at all costs.  There are many websites that tell you about the new trends and activity of the scams that are currently active.  Your personal information needs to be protected especially in the midst of Christmas and all the transactions that the public will utilize at this festive time of year.  There are three important keys identified as contravention measures on identity theft websites; Recognize it, Report it and Stop it.  The methods of detection vary in each instance, however if you notice any of red flags such as denial of credit, missing mail, emails sent from your bank to verify or renew your account due to expiry and unrecognized transactions that appear on your credit card statement, there is a possibility that your credit has been breached or compromised.  Report it at the very earliest time possible before it runs out of control.  If there is a possibility that any element of fraud has occurred, contact your financial institution, the credit reporting agencies such as Equifax or Trans Credit Union and the Police to report the crime.  Stop it by continuing the fight and pursuing any and all avenues where you can report it, such as websites regarding Identity Theft, the Government and Policing Units.  This will ensure that the trends and new scams are reported regularly.  Join the groups to have regular updates to keep your Identity safe.

There are many red flags involved in Identity Theft and daily there are new scams and schemes.  So try to keep aware of current trends.  Thieves have much more time on their hands to think of any way possible to steal your money, your name and your identity with hopes of financial gains. 

Hopefully, the debate with Industry Canada will result in the realization that with no obligation from the banks, retailers and businesses to disclose such breaches, it will enable thieves to flock to Canada with the knowledge that the protection of your information is limited due to lack of mandatory reporting and lack of enforcement.  Their decision will directly reflect on Canadians as consumers or targets.

In the next article, we will post a number of websites for your reference that may assist you in current trends, reporting agencies and other supportive organizations to help you insure that our readers can continue to keep their identities secure.

Here are some of them……

http://www.safecanada.ca/identitytheft_e.asp
http://www.ottawapolice.ca/en/serving_ottawa/support_units/fraud_identity.cfm
https://www.recol.ca/trendsandstats.aspx
http://www.opp.ca/Organization/InvestigationsOrganizedCrime/opp_000533.html