CIPPIC urges Privacy Commissioner to investigate DRM

As Parliament considers legislated protection of Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies (designed to detect and stop copying of digital works), CIPPIC is calling on the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to conduct a privacy impact assessment of these technologies. In its letter, CIPPIC points out that the continuous information collection and surveillance functions of DRM can provide owners with highly detailed and previously unavailable information about the reading, listening and viewing habits of end users. We also highlight various ways in which certain uses of these technologies may be violating federal privacy legislation. This unprecedented threat to consumer privacy deserves immediate attention, before it becomes further entrenched.