There has been a lot of discussion about how the Canadian government's proposed Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act, Bill C-51, could make people criminals and expand warrantless spying. Nevertheless, there has been little discussion of how the legislation, which the Conservatives are pushing through without debate, will affect businesses.
A recent Guardian post suggests that So-called anti-terror measures hurt Canadian companies that operate abroad. In this case, e-book seller Kobo-will in the same way that National Security Agency spying negatively affects U.S. businesses abroad.
Similarly, supermarket chain Tesco recently shut down its BlinkBox e-book efforts and transferred customers' purchases to Kobo, Japanese but based in Toronto.
Consumers and governments in other countries may not understand the finer points of PIPEDA, which means even the perception of overreaching data-snooping capabilities could induce paranoia.
The NSA's overzealousness has cost several American companies, most notably Google, which European policymakers and regulators have pursued with a vengeance. It would be unfortunate if the same thing happened to Kobo and other Canadian companies.