Act Now! An Introduction To Canada's PIPED Act and its Affect on Organizations and IT Departments

The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA or PIPED Act) by the Canadian parliament, has received little media attention considering its scope. Stephanie Perrin, chief privacy officer for Zero-Knowledge Systems in Montreal notes '...the Canadian public doesn't know that the act has passed by and large.' (Conrath). This paper has been written to cast some light on this important piece of legislation and the inherent responsibilities it imposes on organizations and IT departments. This paper will begin with a list of some important global initiatives that protect personal information privacy and five commonalities they share. An introduction to Canada's privacy legislation will be followed by a summary of the 10 privacy protection principles introduced in the PIPED Act. Concluding this paper will be a discussion of six milestones that organizations and IT departments can use to mark their progression along the path to compliance including guidance on implementing each.