N. American war on terror seen as threat to privacy Shawn McCarthy PARLIAMENTARY BUREAU CHIEF OTTAWA -- The North American war on terrorism is seriously undermining Canadians' privacy rights, threatening to produce an Orwellian world where government monitors our daily lives, federal Privacy Commissioner George Radwanski has warned. In his annual report tabled yesterday, Mr. Radwanski says Canadian society is at a crossroads, with new technology and a heightened emphasis on anti-terrorist security combining to erode basic rights. "Privacy is threatened as it's never been before," the report says. "We're all confronted now with the real possibility of having to go through life with someone looking over our shoulder, either metaphorically or quite literally. "We face the real and imminent prospect of having to live our lives weighing every action, every purchase, every statement, every human contact, wondering who might find out about it, judge it, misconstrue it or somehow use it to our detriment." He said terrorists who attacked the United States will have achieved a major victory if governments sacrifice basic rights to collective security. "That's not freedom," he wrote. "That, on the contrary, is a distinguishing characteristic of totalitarian societies." The privacy commissioner -- in his first report after being appointed by Prime Minister Jean Chretien -- says Canadians' are far too cavalier about their privacy rights and rarely raise a fuss until their own lives have been invaded. He says new technology already posed a threat to individual privacy before the Sept, 11 terrorist attacks, but that such pressures are even more acute in the aftermath. In response to the terror attacks, federal legislation has increased the ability of police and intelligence agents to conduct surveillance on Canadians; airlines are being required to hand over passenger information to the government, and new border controls are being considered that include biometric recognition technology and identity cards. In an interview, Mr. Radwanski said he accepts that the heightened concern over security will result in a diminishing of Canadians' privacy rights in specific cases. But he said government should apply strict tests before it infringes on basic rights. The intrusive measures should be demonstrably required to protect society, and not merely to reassure nervous citizens. They should be proportional to the threat and it should be clear that no less-intrusive means would achieve the same aims. Despite the dire tone of the report, the Privacy Commissioner did claim some victories in his battle to protect privacy rights. He noted that the government amended its anti-terror legislation this fall to reflect his recommendations. Mr. Radwanski also complained about police videotaping on public streets to deter crime, calling it an egregious assault on privacy rights. The RCMP installed a video camera on a Kelowna, B.C., street after complaints from downtown merchants. The privacy commissioner asked RCMP Commissioner Giulliano Zaccardelli to order it removed, but the RCMP commissioner refused, saying the camera is making Kelowna a safer place to live. Mr. Radwanski has asked members of Parliament and senators to press the police commissioner to change that decision. Hits: