For now please allow me to drop the political debate and get this thread back to the issue it started on
Here's an interesting email I received this morning from Garill Publishing Ltd.
www.garill.com
While I expected all this to be complicated, the latest gem from my lawyer tops it all. As you are probably aware, we are located in Canada.
Canada has recently introduced a Privacy Law, which does not allow personal information to be made public without the consent of the person in question, and they must sign an affidavit which must be witnessed in order that the information is released legally.
99% of our models have moved, disappeared, left the business, and mostly untraceable, except by government agencies looking at government ID that we have on file. I have no documentation permitting us to disclose any information about our models except to law enforcement officials. (Simply, it was not required at that time but it is retroactive to all information stored everywhere in Canada, on everyone).
I must, primarily, go by the laws of the country where I live and work. If another countries' laws contravene the primary law I have to work under, I cannot satisfy the secondary countries' requirements.
If the new regulations come into effect, I may be forced to drop any Canadian content in order to stay legal. We truly regret the US Government's decision in passing such legislation that affects so many. Had the sale of our company gone through, there would not have been any problem as the company would then have been based in the US and not hindered by our Privacy Laws. For more information about Canada's Privacy Laws see:
http://www.privcom.gc.ca/ekit/index_e.asp
Getting to be a head spinner