Bill on Identity Theft Unanimously Passed by the House of Commons

May 17, 2007

OTTAWA – James Rajotte’s private member’s bill, Bill C-299 has unanimously passed third reading in the House of Commons and is now in the Senate.

This legislation is designed to provide greater protection for Canadians’ personal information by amending Canada’s Criminal Code in order to criminalize “pretexting.”

Through pretexting or impersonating the victim, databrokers can mask phone lines so that the call appears to come from a valid account, and even hack into private accounts using passwords, birthdays, and other personal information. They can then turn around and sell this information to others. Often the victim's name and postal address are all that it takes.

Though fraud and personation are crimes under the Criminal Code, they do not currently apply to personal information such as phone records, consumer preferences, or purchases.

“The purpose of this bill is to close some of the loopholes that allow con artists to exploit people’s personal information,” said Mr. Rajotte.

James Rajotte is the Member of Parliament for Edmonton-Leduc and Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science, and Technology.