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As a result, Flaherty welcomed Stoddart's appointment to the federal role and says she has been "quiet but effective." "I think she has done an excellent job in difficult circumstances," he says, refer- ring to the Radwanski affair. In particular, he says she has spoken forcefully against the threat of privacy intrusions under the guise of national security laws, something Flaherty says shows she can walk the line between her roles as an enforcer and as an advocate for Canadians. Philippa Lawson, the former executive director of the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic in Ottawa, prais- es Stoddart's personal style. As an advocate for privacy rights who has taken on some of Canada's biggest corporations, Lawson has butted heads with Stoddart but says the commissioner always listens and took her former organization's complaints seri- ously. "As a person, you can't get any better, and that really helps a lot." Lawson says Stoddart has been particularly effective as a public speaker on privacy issues. "I think she's a really solid privacy commissioner." Nevertheless, people like John Lawford, a lawyer with the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa, disagree with aspects of Stoddart's approach. One of his biggest concerns is Stoddart's reluctance to be aggressive with companies that are loose with Canadians' privacy by naming them in her decisions. As well, he has been criti- cal of Stoddart's rebuffing of proposals to grant her office the power to make orders against businesses as opposed to just issu- ing recommendations, which allows com- panies to "just plain ignore them." Stoddart, meanwhile, maintains that her role is similar to that of an ombudsper- son where the job is about resolving com- plaints rather than litigating against alleged violators. "At that level, that's where I think she's lacking the fire, and that's unfortu- nate," says Lawford. "I think a lot of that is not her fault. I think a lot of it is because the office was so weakened because they had Radwanski come in and be so much full of fire that he kind of left a burnt bridge or a crisp trail behind him. She was concerned about rebuilding the office Privacy Law in the Private Sector: An Annotation of the Legislation in Canada Jeffrey A. Kaufman Current contributors: Sara A. Levine, J. Alexis Kerr, Karl Delwaide and Antoine Aylwin Past contributors: Priscilla Platt, Lise Hendlisz, Daphne Intrator and Karine Joizil It's no secret, privacy law is creating some confusion, with big consequences. Inside you'll find federal privacy legislation (PIPEDA), and provincial legislation for British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec, as well as privacy legislation in respect of personal health information for Ontario. It also includes highlights setting out commentary on the most current issues of interest in privacy. 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C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com KAUFMAN_Privacy Law in the Private Sector (CL 1-3sq).indd 1 4/2/09 2:52:59 PM CL0000 — which I think she has done — and got them on an even keel over there and not had them abolished by Parliament, which might have been an outcome." One of the areas that's becoming an increasing challenge for Stoddart is the need for rules to deal with privacy viola- tions that happen outside Canada. A big risk, for example, is the security of data passed through outsourcing arrangements between Canadian companies and opera- tions overseas. "Of course, the legal rules are still largely made for another era, not for instantaneous transmission," says Stoddart. That problem came to mind recently when she found herself on the phone talking to a representative in India about ink she had bought for her Dell computer. "I gave him quite a lot of my personal information," she says. "What happens if, in fact, he turns rogue [and] he sells this information? Where is my recourse as a citizen? If I go to the office of the privacy commissioner in Canada, because it's obviously international, what can I do then? What are my contacts with Dell? What laws apply? Who can enforce them? Who can look at remedies? It's just multi- plied throughout the world." As a result, Stoddart is increasingly working with international organizations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to find ways of dealing with cross-border flows of personal information. But so far, what remedies exist under a scenario like the Dell one aren't clear. "India, as I under- stand, does not have a data protection regime like the Canadian one, although I've seen drafts of laws being discussed," she says. "What I understand has happened is that the multinationals that I meet set up their own regimes within Indian contract security penal law where the workers are subjected to very demanding employment conditions which include total confidenti- ality and security of the information." As well, Stoddart notes more inter- national co-operation is also necessary. "Perhaps the ideal way of doing it is that there be data protection authorities in a global network where we can rely on mutual enforcement of similar standards among each other." Lawson, however, says on that issue