Outsourcing and trannsborder data flows : the challenge of protecting personal information under the shadow of the USA patriot act
By: STEFANICK, Lorna
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ArticlePublisher: London : Sage Publications, December 2007International Review of Administrative Sciences 73, 4, p. 531-548Abstract: Governments are increasingly outsourcing service provision to private contractors in an effort to realize cost efficiencies. The passage of the USA Patriot Act, however, has caused concern that government outsourcing of data management to US-based companies could result in the violation of fundamental civil liberties. What follows is a case study of a Canadian provincial government's plan to out-source the administration of a public health insurance and drug plan to a Canadian subsidiary of an American company. Within the context of the larger international concern about the reach of the USA Patriot Act, the article discusses the Canadian response to the fear that outsourcing will compromise the security of personal health information. It concludes that while different privacy protection experts worldwide have drawn different conclusions as to the implications of the USA Patriot Act, the ability of governments to protect the large amounts of data that are entrusted to them is becoming increasingly difficult
Governments are increasingly outsourcing service provision to private contractors in an effort to realize cost efficiencies. The passage of the USA Patriot Act, however, has caused concern that government outsourcing of data management to US-based companies could result in the violation of fundamental civil liberties. What follows is a case study of a Canadian provincial government's plan to out-source the administration of a public health insurance and drug plan to a Canadian subsidiary of an American company. Within the context of the larger international concern about the reach of the USA Patriot Act, the article discusses the Canadian response to the fear that outsourcing will compromise the security of personal health information. It concludes that while different privacy protection experts worldwide have drawn different conclusions as to the implications of the USA Patriot Act, the ability of governments to protect the large amounts of data that are entrusted to them is becoming increasingly difficult
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