Senate considers amending Digital Privacy Act

The government will be asked Tuesday to eliminate from its latest digital privacy bill a provision that would allow not just police but some private companies to obtain the IP addresses of Internet customers without a warrant.The Digital Privacy Act is aimed at Canada’s private-sector privacy law and includes changes that would, if passed, require companies to publicly report all privacy breaches under threat of a hefty fine for failing to do so. But the bill, known as S-4, also includes a provision that allows telecommunications companies, such as Internet service providers, to voluntarily give out customers’ information to organizations investigating potential criminal activity.