See this Washington Post story on the Patriot Act. Congress extended the Act as it stands for one month.

The Act caused real concerns for Canadian organizations that had outsourced services to or were dealing closely with American companies: see this excellent summary by Sara A. Levine and Sarah Gingrich on the Ontario Bar Association website. BC went so far as to amend FOIPPA with the Patriot Act in mind. The privacy issue was also examined by the BC Supreme Court in, BC Govt Serv. Empl. Union v. British Columbia (Minister of Health Services), 2005 BCSC 446 ( a very interesting read to see the limitations placed on the parties to protect the disclosure of information).

Who knows what the next version of the Patriot Act will look like. It will likely continue to affect the Canadian labour and employment community and changes in that Act will be of interest to those dealing in privacy related matters.