Professor Geist’s regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) questions the effectiveness of Canada’s privacy legislation, arguing that privacy laws without effective enforcement and genuine transparency may provide Canadians with little more than placebo privacy protection. The column suggests that responsibility for these issues rests with both the Privacy Commissioner’s Office and the Canadian government. also see: BC Order
Is Canada’s Privacy Law A Privacy Placebo?
April 19, 2004
Share this post

Law Bytes
Episode 264: Jon Penney on Chilling Effects in the Digital Age
byMichael Geist

March 30, 2026
Michael Geist
March 16, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
A Standard That Doesn’t Exist: Parliamentary Secretary for Justice Offers Misleading Defence of Bill C-22’s Lower Threshold for Subscriber Information
More Surveillance Demands to Come?: Government Admits Bill C-22’s Lawful Access Provisions Could Be Expanded
Win, Lose or Draw?: The Federal Court of Appeal Overrules a Key Copyright Case on Procedural Grounds
The Lawful Access Debate Begins: Canadians Should Pay Attention to What the Government Isn’t Saying
The Global Battle for Data Control: How the 2026 U.S. Report on Trade Barriers Targets Data Sovereignty Worldwide
