The Canadian Press: Canada, Greece and Romania have best privacy records, report says - Privacy in the United States and European Union in danger

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Canada, Greece and Romania have best privacy records, report says - Privacy in the United States and European Union in danger

Individual privacy is best protected in Canada but is under threat in the United States and the European Union as governments introduce sweeping surveillance and information-gathering measures in the name of security and border control, an international rights group said in a report released Saturday. Canada, Greece and Romania had the best privacy records of 47 countries surveyed by London-based watchdog Privacy International. Malaysia, Russia and China were ranked worst. Both Britain and the United States fell into the lowest-performing group of "endemic surveillance societies. There is also the danger of the increasing number of security programs involving the United States, which has no federal privacy law. Under the pretext of heightened national security concerns very sensitive personal and private information is now flowing across borders and oceans to the United States in increasing volumes without the approval of the citizens and in violation of privacy laws. Governments should put pressure on the U.S. government to protect that information legally, but they are not doing so. Also the growing business appetite for personal information and technological advances are all potent - and growing - threats to privacy rights.

The report said privacy protection was worsening across western Europe, although it was improving in some of the former Communist states of eastern Europe.The report also noted the trends "have been fueled by the emergency of a profitable surveillance industry dominated by global IT companies and the creation of numerous international treaties that frequently operate outside judicial or democratic processes." The report was carried out by the London-based watchdog Privacy International and covered 47 countries.