As some of you know, I have been trying to work through Canadian Civil Liberties Association on FATCA. They have finally registered concerns with Ministry of Finance.
The Open Letter From CCLA is posted at Maple Sandbox along with a link to CCLA website.
Great work Blaze. I see you have tweeted it a few times, and I just re-tweeted it too..
https://twitter.com/LynneBlaze/status/276060038727098368
https://twitter.com/LynneBlaze/status/276061204580012032
@Blaze
My sincere thanks to you and those who worked to bring FATCA to the attention of the CCLA.
*@Blaze, Thank you so much for the time you have spent on this. You are always on the ball! Great Job!
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I was inspired by this and immediately sent an e-mail to Liberty here in the UK:
http://agentsrapier.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/my-letter-to-liberty/
This is excellent!! Can we get someone from CCLU to the PCParty Forum in Toronto on Dec 15?
@Blaze,
Thanks for your continuing effort on this. It is good to see CCLA address privacy issues. Perhaps human rights, equality, Charter issues, will come. One step at a time.
(My main concern to Abby Deshman was for “human rights” in regard to my son and others like him, their Parent, Guardian, Trustee denied the right to renounce US citizenship on their behalf, without a “compelling reason” like life or death. If I remember correctly, Abby Deshman is a USP — or was that someone else at CCLU?)
Thanks again, Blaze! Awesome.
*@Jim Jatras: I have passed you invitation on to Abby Deshman, who has been handling this for CCLA.
@Calgary: Yes, Abby Deshman is a “US person.” Not sure if she was born in US or born in Canada to US parents.
@Gentleman: Glad to hear this has given you impetus to reach out to Liberty. I hope it has some results for you.
@All: When Abby e-mailed me the letter and the e-bulletin, I responded that I was surprised (and disappointed) that the major focus seemed to be on privacy, with less emphasis on human rights, equality, charter. Here is Abby’s reply to me on that:
“What personal information banks can/can’t ask for from their customers is a
privacy issue, and I do view privacy as absolutely central to individual dignity
and human rights.”
Abby has assured me any response they may receive from Ministry of Finance will be made public.
And this inspired me to go looking for the equivalent organizations in New Zealand and Australia.
http://www.go.to/aclu
http://nzccl.org.nz/
Two more organizations in NZ…
OPC: http://privacy.org.nz/what-we-do
http://www.hrc.co.nz/human-rights-environment/about-the-human-rights-commission/contact-the-commission
*Blaze
Good Work
At this point I think the key thing is still quantity vs quality. No one really knows what domestic legal changes would possibly be required to Canadian law so focusing on Privacy is probably still the most reasonable course of action.
@Blaze I add my thanks and congratulations to those of others.
Hi Blaze,
This is super! Thanks for your work making the CCLA aware of the serious dangers FACTA poses to civil liberties and encouraging them to take a stand against it!
lucky Canada. The only thing we have is the Nobel fiasco.
Fantastic! Have sent on to MPs I wrote to previously.
@Blaze
Any idea why it was addressed “To Whom It May Concern”, rather than the Minister of Finance? From your communication, I gather it was indeed sent to him.
Related to this, I think there is a case to be made to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for the right to expatriate, meaning to shed one citizenship while taking another. The US is signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which includes the right to change nationality (Article 15(2)). Although the Declaration is non-binding, it is now the standard by which to measure human rights performance by national states. In the best of all worlds, there would be an orderly, non-punitive procedure, so everybody knows where they stand. The fact that there have been some notorious cases of individuals who have changed nationality in order to preserve enormous wealth earned in the US doesn’t change the fact that most people expatriate for the most ordinary of reasons — marriage, work, etc. — or that the US stance has been predatory.
http://www.udhr.org/history/question.htm#_Toc397930440
http://www.thecommonwealth.org/Internal/190707/190891/218476/ratifications/
*The US Senate (more accurately the Republicans in the Senate) just refused to ratify the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. This is spite of the fact that the convention was based on the US human rights act. The tea party nut bars in the Republican Senate worry that the UN may somehow tell the US how to behave.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/us/despite-doles-wish-gop-rejects-disabilities-treaty.html?ref=politics&_r=0
And some of you think the GOP are more reasonable than the Dems!!!!
I am, of course, a prejudiced person on this subject. I think this is injust, insane, doesn’t make sense. The US Republicans fear it will infrange on American sovereignty. And, on and on it goes.
Re: CCLA letter to the Finance Department, the question is, how to get this to the CBC, and other Canadian new agencies in order to shine the light on FATCA (and the current IRS crusade against those it deems double taxable abroad)? And, readers here from other countries should forward the letter to their governments. It may give heart to those abroad to resist the IGAs, seeing this happening from within Canada.
There must be equivalents of the CCLA in the UK for instance? And in the countries of the EU?
Would the ACLU agree to assist from within the US too now that this problem is raised publicly by the CCLA? I would help to have pressure from within and from without. The ACLU can also pursue it on the basis of the massive identity theft breaches that both the IRS, and agencies it shares with have suffered.
http://www.federalnewsradio.com/534/3139043/IRS-struggling-to-tackle-massive-surge-in-identity-theft
http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/10/26/south-carolina-data-breach-36-million-ssns-stolen/1661541/
http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/press/press_tigta-2012-52.htm
http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/press/press_tigta-2012-36.htm
http://www.treasury.gov/tigta/auditreports/2012reports/201240050fr.html
The TIGTA reports may be very useful evidence when writing to our MPs and others here, like the Canadian and provincial Privacy Commissioners. Clearly, not only is providing the information in conflict with Canadian privacy laws, but the US cannot and will not ensure the safety of the data – plus, Homeland Security laws don’t compel them to notify the owners of the information if the US chooses to seize the data and share it with other federal US agencies. In terms of official sharing of tax return data, there are supposed to be some (?) restrictions on sharing the information, but the FATCA and FBAR information is not actually part of the tax returns.
There is no compelling Canadian social good or aim that would be served by trying to exempt this information from the Charter, or the Constitution, etc.
Also, underscore that we are being compelled by US domestic laws to already breach the privacy of others – non-US employers, business partners, voluntary and professional organizations, churches, estates, and family members wherever and whenever we have any co/signatory powers on their non-US accounts. We therefore are being compelled – under threat of draconian and confiscatory penalties, to disclose the personal and account information of many other people who are NOT US persons, and who themselves have NO reporting or other obligation to the US. Thus, in order to comply with US extraterritorial application of a US domestic law, we are compelled to break Canadian law. The FBAR information on the IRS site clearly states that legal objections to providing the information required on an FBAR – based on the privacy considerations or rights of other people, or of other countries’ laws is not a compelling or acceptable reason not to comply. The IRS clearly states that US law trumps any local law.
A global non-profit human rights organization that may be worth looking at is Privacy International based in the UK. It claims to be operating in 47 countries and may be interested in FATCA.
https://www.privacyinternational.org/about-us
They put a lot of effort into blocking the transfer of data from SWIFT transactions. I don’t know if they succeeded but here is an article on their efforts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/27/world/27cnd-secure.html?ex=1309060800&en=5a89c5108098a0c0&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&_r=0
Do you think it would be a good idea to bring FATCA awareness to the Center for Global Development (http://www.cgdev.org/section/experts).
A search for FATCA on their website returns nothing. It seems that it might be of interest to some of the Experts listed there (EXPERTS tab at the top of the page). I wonder if they would be pro FATCA like the OECD. I almost choked when I went to the OECD website: http://www.oecd.org
“OECD: BETTER POLICIES FOR BETTER LIVES”
*O’h the OECD KNOWS ALL ABOUT FATCA. They are right in the thick of things so to speak.
@Christophe, @From the Wilderness, and @all, saw this list of international privacy organizations on our Canadian Privacy Commissioner’s site:
International data protection authorities
http://www.priv.gc.ca/resource/int/index_e.asp
and I liked this:
http://www.priv.gc.ca/resource/fs-fi/02_05_d_23_e.as
Fact Sheets
What Canadians Can Do to Protect Their Personal Information Transferred Across Borders
“Canadians benefit from a reasonable standard of protection of their
personal information. They do not want to see that protection vanish
when personal information about them is transferred across borders, and
they do not want to see governments or organizations in Canada transfer
their information across borders if it will be put at risk of
inappropriate disclosure, whether for security or for commercial
purposes.
The extent to which personal information about Canadians should be
made available to foreign governments is a complex issue of continuing
concern. Nonetheless, Canadians can take some measures to protect their
personal information from inappropriate disclosure to foreign
governments….”
and,
http://www.priv.gc.ca/information/guide/2009/gl_dab_090127_e.asp
“Guidelines for Processing Personal Data Across Borders”
and, closest I could find for a US issue is:
http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2012/nr-c_120402_e.asp
Perimeter security: Privacy commissioners urge transparency and respect of Canadian privacy standards
Ottawa, Ontario, April 2, 2012 – Canada’s federal
government should take all steps necessary to ensure the standards and
values behind Canadian privacy laws are not diminished as programs to
fulfill the Canada-US perimeter security action plan are developed, say
Canada’s privacy guardians.
On December 7, 2011, Prime Minister Harper and President Obama
announced a new perimeter security action plan, setting forth a series
of initiatives that will result in unprecedented cross-border
information sharing. Following detailed analysis of the plan from a
privacy standpoint, and as Prime Minister Harper and President Obama
meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Washington D.C., privacy
commissioners and ombudspersons from across Canada issued a joint
resolution, which includes the following recommendations:
should also include appropriate redress and remedy mechanisms to review
files for accuracy, correct inaccuracies and restrict disclosures to
other countries;
whenever feasible or at least be subject to Canadian protection; and…………….
….”
The resolution follows a detailed submission provided by the Office
of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to the Beyond the Border Working
group in June 2011. In the analysis of the Action Plan following its
December release, it was found that the recommendations contained remain
outstanding.
“My provincial-territorial colleagues and I recognize that the
perimeter work plan is in its early stages of being realized, and we
maintain that it is important to address privacy up front as a
foundational piece of its development,” says Jennifer Stoddart, the
Privacy Commissioner of Canada.
The joint resolution provides some important guidance as the
government continues work to develop initiatives as well as meet the
commitment of finalizing joint privacy principles by May 30, 2012.”
http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2012/res_120402_e.asp
Fundamental privacy protections and cross-border transfer of personal information
Resolution of Canada’s Privacy Commissioners and Privacy Enforcement
Officials on the Canada-US Perimeter Security and Economic
Competitiveness Action Plan
April 2, 2012
….”
The recent declaration, while acknowledging the importance of privacy,
does not detail how either government intends to reconcile the very
different privacy regimes and policy goals that exist in the United
States and Canada;”
…”
in its June submission to government are not addressed in the Action
Plan nor have the governments specifically addressed privacy concerns
related to this initiative;
programs that have an impact on individual privacy rights, are concerned
that certain perimeter security programs could have significant effects
on the privacy of Canadian citizens.
WHEREAS:
that Canadians place on protecting their personal information and
privacy rights, and must not abrogate these values and rights;
………”Ensure that legal standards, values and rights established in Canadian
privacy law for treatment of personal information are not eroded“
……”Actively involve Parliament, provincial Privacy Commissioners, academics
and civil society in discussions and options for new security
initiatives, engage and inform all citizens in the policy debate;”……….
Problem is, that if you read all of this page above http://www.priv.gc.ca/media/nr-c/2012/res_120402_e.asp , after all the strong statements, it hedges further down re implementation, and comes across as somewhat toothless, allowing foreign governments to assure this and that, which in the case of the US means absolutely nothing. The strongest angle is that as the US is totally unable to guarantee any security for the data, because it has failed spectacularly in protecting it’s own IRS data – which several TIGTA reports document, and also the reports by the TAS. Another angle is that even if the US assured data protection, the Patriot Act, and Homeland Security allows for the information to be seized and shared without notice or recourse. So, there would be no way to monitor the use and sharing and security of the data, Homeland Security isn’t accountable or transparent, and there is no recourse.
I suspect that the federal government plan via the IGA would be to suggest that it will ensure safeguards (whether it can or not), and pretend that it satisfies the Privacy Commissioner. Probably only a challenge of the federal government would then force them to back up their claims that they will take all precautions, etc…..blah blah
@Badger, treasury has reassured Senators that reciprocity would be considered only with trusted foreign governements to ensure safeguards. Don’t remember exactly when I read that.
@Tim, I though I read somewhere that the OECD did not have a thing to say, that FATCA was a deal between the US and Foreign Governements.
However, on their website, yes, they issued a statement saying they’re happy to see more governements cooperating on the issue of tax evasion.