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A Background of a 'Background Checker'
pamri writes "The Times of India profiles Jay Patel, of Abika, a firm that specializes in background checks, personality profiles, satellite or aerial Photos of any location besides other services in the US. It is now venturing into other countries including Canada and India.
Abika is already facing protests from Canadian Privacy groups for breaching the Canadian Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act"
It isn't necessarily INTERNATIONAL laws that prevent this, rather it is national laws that keep tabs on it. In Canada in any case we have the Privacy Act which basically means people cannot keep your personal information without your consent. Granted, I am doubtful there is a clause that says:
All font point sizes must exceed size -1...
I am not sure I understand what you are saying; the Canadian Privacy Act forces ALL corporate entities to destroy any personal data, regardless of where your main office is. If they intend to merely profile Canadians for their business venture, then they would be liable to any laws that are imposed on people conducting business in Canada that are from outside the country.
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Are you a a lawyer? I'm not. But I am a Canadian law student. So I probably know more about the law, particularly Canadian law, than 99% of the posters on this board. Which isn't saying much, I admit.
That said, with respect, you're very wrong.
As a matter of law, you can always bring a claim against a foreign defendant in your own jurisdiction. The threshold issue will be whether your jurisdiction is the appropriate venue to pursue the claim.
Incidentally, I don't think the problem is so much PIPEDA as defamation. If someone publishes inaccurate and defamatory information about me, I can sue their pants off, whether I'm in Canada or the US. But I'd probably want to do it in Canada, since US libel laws are pretty defendant-friendly.
If you succeed, however, you'd have to enforce the judgment in the defendant's jurisdiction, which could be problematic.
Incidentally, although the Times of India is profiling this fellow, the company is based in Wyoming (or so claims their WHOIS record). One would go after the corporate person, I would think, so at the very least, people can sue the corp under Wyoming/US law.
If, for any reason, you think I'm full of it, then note that Americans regularly sue Canadians in American courts. Right now there's a great case about a junkyard owner in Virginia suing CIBC (one of Canada's largest banks) in negligence for mistakenly sending faxes containing the bank's customers' information to his business.
However, IANAL. None of the foregoing is legal advice.
to take a picture of Canada to that resolution, you'd pretty much be intentionally invading Canadian airspace
Sorry, not right. Since we are talking about satellites here "airspace" does not apply. This from a US Navy law page:
The upper limit of airspace subject to national jurisdiction has not been authoritatively defined by international law. International practice has established that airspace terminates at some point below the point at which artificial satellites can be placed in orbit without free-falling to earth. Outer space begins at that undefined point. All nations enjoy a freedom of equal access to outer space and none may appropriate it to its national airspace or exclusive use.
--- Tolerance is the axiomatic "virtue" of those without convictions ---
Oh how I love our Data Protection Act in the UK ;) It is illegal for any personal information to be shared between companies (and even divisions of government) without a good reason, that has been ok'd by the subject first - that's right, the Police are not allowed to get your Health records unless it's either a criminal investigation or they have your permission - they can't look "just in case", and neither can anyone else...
Hmm, let's see... according to a CNN transcript, he lives "on the outskirts" of Cheyenne, Wyoming and works in the basement of his home.
:
There aren't too many Patels listed in the phonebook in all of Wyoming, much less in Cheyenne.
Mailing addy is Cheyenne, customer support is farmed out to Colorado.
Go to town...
According to Network Solutions:
Registrant: Make this info private
AccuSearch Inc., (28417407O)
6812 Lupine
Laramie County, WY 82009
US
Phone: 720-207-0362
Fax: 720-207-0388
Domain Name: ABIKA.COM
Administrative Contact , Technical Contact
Webmaster, Abika
(28417408I)
abikamail2@yahoo.com
6812 Lupine
Laramie County, WY 82009
US
Phone: 720-207-0362
Fax: 720-207-0388
Record expires on 28-Sep-2010
Record created on 28-Sep-1999
Database last updated on 08-Jul-2004
Domain servers in listed order: Manage DNS
NS1.LNHI.NET 209.41.184.100
NS2.LNHI.NET 209.41.170.99