Canwest reports that the federal government plans to introduce new security breach disclosure legislation that will provide considerable discretion for when businesses disclose instances of security breaches. There are apparently no penalties for failure to disclose. Given the potential impact of identity theft and the incentives to keep breaches secret, the law sounds so weak as to be close to useless.
Security Breach Disclosure Bill May Fall Short
April 25, 2008
Share this post
One Comment

Law Bytes
Episode 277: Kate Robertson on the Risks That Lie Behind Canada's Unexpected Signing of the UN Cybercrime Convention
byMichael Geist

June 22, 2026
Michael Geist
Search Results placeholder
Michael Geist on Substack
Recent Posts
From CCH to ChatGPT: How Canadian Copyright Law Played the Key Role in Deciding a Leading AI Training Data Case in India
Starting Over: Court Filing Confirms the CRTC’s Streamer Contribution Decisions Are Dead With a Full Online Streaming Act Reset to Come
The Name on the Window Was Enough: The Attacks on Kiva’s and the Normalization of Antisemitic Violence in Canada
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 277: Kate Robertson on the Risks That Lie Behind Canada’s Unexpected Signing of the UN Cybercrime Convention
A Surveillance Treaty in Disguise: The Trouble With Canada’s Quiet Decision to Sign the UN Cybercrime Convention

Only disclosure?
It seems to me that disclosure is not even the important issue. How come there is no liability? Could it be because personal information is being handled in a way that benefits the company or government and not the individuals concerned? A bank would be responsible if they left your money in a suitcase somewhere and someone walked off with it. “I left it on the bus” doesn’t cut it with money, why does it with information. Shouldn’t personal information be protected by the same rules? Whether loss or disclosure of personal information is deliberate or accidental doesn’t make any difference to the people effected.