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International Law

The Canadian Privacy Law Blog

The Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Developments in privacy law and writings of a Canadian privacy lawyer, containing information related to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (aka PIPEDA) and other Canadian and international laws.

Post Frequency: 2.3/day

Last Entry: October 07, 2020 at 10:02:01

Google wins Street View privacy suit

Posted on February 18, 2009
I blogged a while ago about a lawsuit brought against Google by the Boring family, alleging that Google's Street View was an invasion of their privacy by showing images of the Borings' house. (Google moves to have lawsuit thrown out, arguing complete privacy does not exist , Boring lawsuit over Google's "Street View" )...

R. v. Wilson: Police get warrantless access to Sympatico customer's data

Posted on February 18, 2009
I blogged earlier this week about a decision from the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that held that Bell Sympatico customers do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when the police come knocking for the name and address behind an IP address...

Another Canadian privacy voice: Brian Bowman On the Cutting Edge

Posted on February 18, 2009
I've just discovered that Brian Bowman of Pitblado LLP has a blog. Brian's not only a great guy, but a heck of a privacy lawyer. Watch his blog: Brian Bowman - On the Cutting Edge.

Extreme data disposal

Posted on February 17, 2009
If you're serious about data destruction, Lifehacker has some interesting how-to videos: Video: Hard Drive Disposal with Extreme Prejudice.

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Police get warrantless access to Sympatico customer's data

Posted on February 13, 2009
Another case from Ontario about police getting warrantless access to personal information from an internet service provider, in this case Bell Sympatico. For previous cases, see this link. The justification is based on a particular reading of Section 7 of PIPEDA, and Bell Canada deciding it should hand over the information...

Lawful access rears its head again

Posted on February 13, 2009
Here we go again .... the government is preparing a new "lawful access" law. The media coverage seems to suggest that it covers both eavesdropping of internet based communications (with a warrant) and obtaining subscriber data (without a warrant). globeandmail...

UK pub required to install CCTV to get police approval for liquor license

Posted on February 10, 2009
A little over a year ago, I blogged about a Halifax bar that had its suspended liquor license back by promising to provide the cops and liquor inspectors with off-site access to expanded surveillance in the bar. (See: Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Halifax bar gets liquor license back on condition that cops have off-site access to surveillance system...

European court rules that photo without consent is breach of privacy and human rights

Posted on February 08, 2009
The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that taking a person's photograph (even if not for publication or commercial use) violates that person's human rights. The case stems from a photograph taken of a newborn baby in a Greek hospital by a company that was hired by the hospital to take such photos...

10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know

Posted on February 07, 2009
The title says it all. If you use Facebook, you should read this: 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know. And act on it.

4th Annual Payment Card Compliance In Canada

Posted on February 06, 2009
I had the pleasure of speaking this morning at the Canadian Institutes 4th Annual Payment Card Compliance In Canada. I was on a panel with Art Dunfee, Director General of Investigations and Inquiries at the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and Sandy Stephens, Senior Manager, Legal CounselCapital One Canada...

Tell your friends (and Google) where you are

Posted on February 04, 2009
Google has just launced "Latitude", which uses the GPS on your smartphone to share your location with your friends. Though it looks very customizable from a privacy perspective, you will always need to remember that Google will know where you are at all times...

Cross-border laptop searches: the view from Canada

Posted on February 03, 2009
I had the opportunity this morning to speak at the Ontario Bar Association's annual CLE extravaganza on the topic of cross border laptop searches. I was joined by David P Sanders of Williams Mullen in Washington, DC. For those who may be interested, here is my presentation that was given at the session: The ultimate conclusion is that Canadian border authorities have similar powers to search your laptop when you cross into Canada...

Time for a privacy check-up

Posted on January 28, 2009
Today's Halifax Chronicle Herald has an opinion piece by Bob Doherty, the former head of privacy and access with the Nova Scotia Department of Justice: Time for a privacy check-up - Nova Scotia News - TheChronicleHerald.ca Time for a privacy check-up Laws need to be understandable, consistentBy BOB DOHERTY Wed...

Happy data privacy day!

Posted on January 27, 2009
Happy Data Privacy Day! Tomorrow is data privacy day and there are a range of events taking place all over the world. I'll be at a lunch today at Dalhousie (Data Protection Day) and then in St. John's tomorrow at Memorial University (Information Access and Privacy Protection Data Privacy Day)...

Telling community stories with Street View

Posted on January 26, 2009
Here's a nice departure from the usual privacy complaining about Google's Street View. The concept is simple: turn Google Street View into a community event. Its execution was perfect. I'll let the authors describe it: STREET WITH A VIEW: a project by Robin Hewlett & Ben Kinsley Street With A View introduces fiction, both subtle and spectacular, into the doppelganger world of Google Street View...

Heartland data breach could be bigger than TJX's

Posted on January 20, 2009
Heartland Payment Systems has announced that it suffered a significant data breach last year after it was discovered that hackers had installed software on their systems to capture credit card information. The firm apparenly processes over 100 Million tranactions a month, leading to speculation that this may dwarf the 2007 TJX breach...

Alberta pawnshop owner loses privacy battle

Posted on January 13, 2009
According to the Edmonton Journal, an Edmonton pawnshop owner who has been waging a battle against the mandatory uploading of personal information of those who pawn items to a central database has lost his battle, at least in the Court of Queen's Bench...

A rare peek at Homeland Security's files on travelers

Posted on January 11, 2009
In case you were wondering how much information the Department of Homeland Security keeps on travelers in the United States, look no further: A rare peek at Homeland Security's files on travelers - This Just In - Budget Travel. Via Gadling.

New system takes ID swiping to a new level

Posted on January 07, 2009
I've written on this blog before about the practice of swiping drivers' licenses and other IDs at bars. The Omega--an independent student newspaper from Thompson River University--is reporting about a company that takes it to a new level by photographing all bar patrons:Big brother at the bar? - Cactus Jacks implements new way to screen attendees ?We have a new monitoring system called Treoscope that everyone that comes into the pub must go through,? said Cactus Jack?s manager Pete Backus...

Privacy in public

Posted on January 07, 2009
According to Yahoo! News, a Wisconsin court has held that a person who is voluntarily naked in front of others still has a reasonable expecation not to be videotaped. (See: Wis. court: Nude people still have privacy rights - Yahoo! News.) Unusual case but make sense to me...

CBSA opens lawyer's mail

Posted on January 05, 2009
Cyndee Cherniak, at Trade Lawyers Blog, reports on receiving a peice of mail addressed to her -- clearly a lawyer -- that had been opened and "inspected" by the Canada Border Services Agency. She is understandably angry. See: BEWARE - Canada Border Services Agency WILL Read Lawyer's Mail...

Log retention initiatives

Posted on January 02, 2009
Just posted on Slaw: Slaw: Log retention initiatives I wrote two weeks ago about privacy issues related to the log files that are created and retained by internet companies. The moral of that story was that there is a significant amount of information that is collected in these logs and when they are retained and collated, they can reveal a lot of personal information...

The Canadian Privacy Law Blog is Five!

Posted on January 02, 2009
Five years ago, on January 2, 2004, a new age of privacy was creeping across Canada and this blog was born. The day before, at the stroke of midnight, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Canada) had come fully into force...

A Christmas story from the Commissioners

Posted on December 15, 2008
T'was just weeks before Christmas T?was just weeks before Christmas, and all through the land privacy commissioners were taking a stand. While shoppers were lined up to purchase their treasures, The commissioners were urging them to take privacy measures...

Canada's Privacy Commissioner Launches 6th Annual Privacy Research Contributions Program

Posted on December 02, 2008
The Commissioner has launched the sixth year of the research contributions program. From the Government of Canada website: Canada's Privacy Commissioner Launches 6th Annual Privacy Research Contributions Program Ottawa, December 1, 2008 ? The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) today announced the launch of the 2009-2010 privacy research Contributions Program...

Slaw Makes the ABA?s Top 100 List of Legal Blogs

Posted on December 02, 2008
Congratulations to Slaw, the Canadian collaborative weblog of all things legal on being named to the American Bar Association's Top 100 list of blogs. Very cool. See: Slaw: Slaw Makes the ABA?s Top 100 List.

Collection of Driver?s Licence Numbers Under Private Sector Privacy Legislation

Posted on December 02, 2008
The Canadian, Alberta and British Columbia Privacy Commissioners have today jointly released a guidance document on the collection of drivers' license information by retailers. It's here: Collection of Driver?s Licence Numbers Under Private Sector Privacy Legislation - Privacy Commissioner of Canada...

Paris to dramatically boost surveillance cameras

Posted on October 22, 2008
Paris plans to try to bridge the gap between London's thousands of CCTV cameras and the city of lights' paltry 330 surveillance cameras linked to the police. It's an initiative dubbed "A Thousand Cameras for Paris." But in an effort to out-do London, the French plan to deploy spy drones to keep an eye on evil-doers...

Ontario Commissioner speaks out about RFID licenses

Posted on October 21, 2008
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario is speaking out about the proposed new ehanced drivers license, which is planning to use an RFID chip: New ID card threatens our privacy Canada News Toronto Sun.

CCTV walk in Halifax

Posted on October 20, 2008
This past Saturday I found myself with an hour to kill downtown. I had my camera with me and my GPS-equipped blackberry, so I decided to do a quick inventory of surveillance cameras. I only took photos of cameras that are in public spaces or were pointed at public spaces...

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