International Law

Former Commissioner Phillips receives Order of Canada

Posted on September 13, 2010
Former Federal Privacy Commissioner Bruce Phillips was awarded the Order of Canada earlier this month. Here's a profile and interview: Chronicle Journal - Stories - A Life's Work Honoured.

Privacy commissioner?s fate up in the air

Posted on September 09, 2010
In today's Vancouver Sun, Sarah Schmidt writes on the uncertainty about the reappointment of Federal Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. This has been a subject of much speculation among privacy professionals over the last year, which was intensified when Liz Denham was appointed Information and Privacy Commissioner for British Columbia...

NYT editorial on tracking kids

Posted on September 09, 2010
I blogged last week about California schools tracking preschoolers with RFID. Now the New York Times has an editorial condemning the practice. The big issue comes down to this: Editorial - Keeping Track of the Kids - NYTimes.com Though it may seem innocuous to attach a chip to our preschoolers? clothes, do we really want to raise a generation of kids that are accustomed to being tracked, like cattle or warehouse inventory?

The Cloud, Security & Standards

Posted on September 08, 2010
Check out Michael Power's new blog post: Michael Power ? The Cloud, Security & Standards.

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Personal Health Information Act and health research

Posted on September 08, 2010
I have been invited to give a presentation to health researchers at Dalhousie, the IWK Health Centre and the Capital District Health Authority on the upcoming Personal Health Information Act and its impact on health research. For any others who may be interested, here is the presentation: The bill fell off the order paper of the Nova Scotia legislature when the house rose for the summer, but we are expecting it will be reintroduced sometime this fall...

California preschoolers get RFID tracking chips

Posted on September 03, 2010
The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that at least one California school is using RFID chips to more efficiently warehouse, store and track preschoolers. See: California students get tracking devices - San Jose Mercury News. Unsurprisingly, the ACLU has a different take on it: Don't Let Schools Chip Your Kids...

Correctional Service of Canada settles privacy lawsuit over leak of employee information to inmate

Posted on September 03, 2010
The Correctional Service of Canada has settled a privacy lawsuit brought by 366 staff members whose home addresses were leaked to an inmate. The settlement (below) provides a payment of $1000 per plaintiff, along with a separate fund for any employee who can prove psychological or psychiatric harm from the breach...

Conference: Introduction to the Personal Health Information Privacy and Access Act

Posted on September 02, 2010
The Privacy Law section of the Canadian Bar Association (New Brunswick) is organizing a one-day professional development event on the province's new health privacy legislation. The keynote speaker will be Anne Cavoukian, speaking on her experience with PHIPA in Ontario...

Privacy interests to be considered in publication ban

Posted on August 30, 2010
A long-time friend of this blog just recently sent me a link to a new decision from the British Columbia Supreme Court (R. v. Pickton, 2010 BCSC 1198 ), in which the Court was asked to issue a publication ban to protect the identity of an individual witness for reasons of privacy...

Alberta Commissioner launches investigation into medical identity theft

Posted on August 27, 2010
This is the first Canadian case of "medical identity theft" or impersonation that I've seen widely reported: CBC News - Calgary - Mistaken identity case sparks investigation Alberta's privacy commissioner has announced an investigation into the "Golo" identity case...

Privacy Commissioner v Facebook: Next chapter imminent

Posted on August 25, 2010
You may recall that last year, following a high-profile complaint made against Facebook by the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada gave Facebook a year to get its house in order. In particular, the social networking site told the Commissioner that it would take about a year to address issues regarding third party applications on the Facebook platform and the handling of accounts of deceased users...

Facebook to be off-limits to German employers

Posted on August 24, 2010
According to Spiegel, the German government is currently working on an addition to the country's data protection laws that will prevent employers from using Facebook to screen prospective employees, but most other internet-derived information will be fair game:Saving Jobseekers from Themselves: New Law to Stop Companies from Checking Facebook Pages in Germany - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - InternationalBut those Facebook users hoping to apply for a job in Germany should pause for a moment before they hit the "deactivate account" button...

Elizabeth Denham says federal OPC may need greater enforcement powers

Posted on August 24, 2010
Elizabeth Denham, former Assistant Privacy Commissioner of Canada was recently interviewed by itbusiness.ca saying that the Federal Commissioner's office may need augmented powers to deal with privacy enforcement in the modern age. The OPC has hired two academics to re-examine the ombudsman model that the office currently follows and to look at alternatives...

Auto finance company scopes GPS tracking and borrower profiling

Posted on August 17, 2010
When I first saw this headline referring to GPS tracking, I assumed that a car finance company would want GPS on vehicles to make it easier to repossess the car if the borrower defaults. That's intrusive, but makes sense. The finance company essentially owns the vehicle until it's paid off, so maybe it's reasonable for it to know where it is...

Federal Commissioner settles ID-swiping dispute

Posted on August 14, 2010
The Privacy Commissioner of Canada just recently announced a settlement has been reached in its application to the Federal Court to stop Canad Corporation of Manitoba from ID-swiping patrons of its nightclubs. This followed an investigation by the OPC that recommended the practice be terminated and that the data collected be destroyed...

Access right survives requester

Posted on August 07, 2010
Dan Michaluk has a good summary of a very recent Federal Court of Canada case that found an access request (and the right to bring an application to the court) survives the death of the relevant individual. See: Case Report ? Federal Court addresses effect of requester?s death on a denied access request ? All About Information, about Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies v...

US Government enters Blackberry security debate

Posted on August 06, 2010
The US State Department is wading into the Blackberry security debate already discussed below. They hope to reach a compromise, which hopefully will not compromise the security of the devices. See: State Dept. wades into foreign BlackBerry ban.

UAE to ban Blackberry: Devices are too hard to tap

Posted on August 01, 2010
According to the New York Times, the United Arab Emirates is poised to ban e-mail and internet use on Blackberry devices for "security issues". The security issue is that the devices are too difficult to monitor. See: U.A.E. Is to Bar BlackBerry E-Mail Over Security Issues - NYTimes...

White House proposal would ease FBI access to records of Internet activity

Posted on July 30, 2010
According to the Washington Post, the Obama administration is seeking to expand (or "clarify") the authority of the FBI to seek web-surfing records with a national security letter. The current law allows the FBI to require the production of "transactional" information without a warrant but not content information...

Privacy and Access Rights in the Age of Technology: The State of Canadians? Information Rights in 2010 and Beyond

Posted on July 29, 2010
The Canadian Bar Association's National Privacy and Access Law Section has organized what I expect will be one of the premier continuing education events in Canada for privacy and access specialists on September 19/20 in Ottawa. The program is awesome, covering both access to information and privacy...

New Pacific rim privacy commissioners

Posted on July 26, 2010
In the last week or so, new Privacy Commissioners have been named for both Australia and Hong Kong: Allan Chiang named Privacy Commissioner (Hong Kong) The Chief Executive has appointed former Postmaster General Allan Chiang as the new Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data for five years from August 4...

Privacy Commissioner announces new round of research contributions

Posted on July 26, 2010
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has announced its latest round of research funding under its contributions program. Below is a list of the projects funded: Research Projects - Contributions Program 2009-2010 Research Projects funded under 2009-2010 Contributions Program Association sur l?accès et la protection de l?information (AAPI) - Internet portal on privacy protection University of Alberta, Health Law Institute - Analysis of Privacy Policies and Practices of Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing Companies: Private Sector Databanks and Privacy Protection Norms University of Victoria - Deep-Packet Inspection: Resources for the Analysis of Privacy Implications in Canada Memorial University of Newfoundland - Privacy Protection and Biobanks: A Conjoint Analysis of Priorities and Preferences of Stakeholder Groups Union des consommateurs - Electronic Health Records: Controlling Personal Health Data in the Context of Medical Records Information Queen?s University - Camera Surveillance in Canada: A Research Workshop

New Brunswick names first privacy commissioner

Posted on July 16, 2010
The government of New Brunswick has named Fredericton lawyer Anne Bertrand to become the province's first access to information and privacy commissioner. She will be responsible for oversight of the province's new health privacy law. CBC News - New Brunswick - Fredericton lawyer named information czar Last Updated: Thursday, July 15, 2010 | 7:39 PM ATCBC News Premier Shawn Graham has tapped Fredericton lawyer Anne Bertrand to become the province's first access to information and privacy commissioner...

Important Federal Court decision on "commercial activities" under PIPEDA

Posted on July 10, 2010
Today, the Federal Court of Canada released an important decision on the parameters of "commercial activity" under PIPEDA: State Farm v Privacy Commissioner, 2010 FC 736. Because I was one of the counsel on the case, I can't say much so I'll leave it to Dan Michaluk to provide a full, unbiased summary...

Damages under PIPEDA: What does it take to get some damages around here?

Posted on July 09, 2010
Dan Michaluk has a great summary of Randall v. Nubodys Fitness Centres, 2010 FC 681 (CanLII), where the Federal Court was not inclined to award any damages for a breach of PIPEDA. Dan calls it a "conservative approach", but it seems more restrictive than that...

The truth about internet advertising

Posted on July 08, 2010
Most people don't spend a lot of time thinking about the magic that takes place behind the scenes when they are on the internet. When it comes to advertising, tailored ads often lead people to assume that the advertisers know something about them and that often creeps them out...

Changes to privacy laws vague

Posted on June 28, 2010
David Canton's latest column in the London Free Press is on the PIPEDA amendments, particularly the continued vagueness of the "lawful authority" provisions in the law: eLegal Canton - Changes to privacy laws vague.

Privacy in the Clouds presentation

Posted on June 21, 2010
Below is my slide deck that I presented at the Privacy Commissioner's public consultation on cloud computing in Calgary on June 21, 2010. Let me know in the comments or by e-mail if you have any problems with the slides.

Privacy Commissioner's consumer consultation (cloud computing) continues on Monday in Calgary

Posted on June 20, 2010
I've been honoured to be invited as one of the keynote speakers at the Privacy Commissioner's consumer consultations taking place in Calgary on Monday. I'm speaking on the topic of Cloud Computing. The full agenda is here.The proceedings will be webcast: http://welcome2theshow...

What?s intrusive?

Posted on June 19, 2010
What?s intrusive? is the title of my post yesterday at slaw.ca, about computer searches. I was reading an interesting article in the Lawyer's Weekly today on the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision in R. v. Morelli, [2010] SCC 8. In his article, "Reforming Search & Seizure" (sadly, not available online), Professor Benjamin Goold makes the following comment that I tripped over while reading: Although Justice Fish almost certainly went too far when he claimed that it is "difficult to imagine a search more intrusive, extensive or invasive of one's privacy than the search and seizure of a personal computer," the fact remains that such a search represents a serious infringement of an individual's right to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure under s...

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