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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

Michigan seeks private sponsors for police surveillance cameras

Posted on July 29, 2008
Apparently the municipality of Flint, Michigan is looking for businesses to pony up $30,000 each to sponsor one of 14 surveillance cameras. See: Michigan City Wants Sponsors for Police Cameras: Top News Stories at Officer.com. Sponsors get to have their logo affixed to the device, along with a police crest and a blue light...

Mosley's privacy win in English courts

Posted on July 25, 2008
It's a busy week for privacy cases in the English courts. The media has widely reported on the case of Max Mosley, the Grand Prix boss, who has successfully sued the News of the World. The publication placed a hidden camera in a private residence and filmed Mosley in an intimate encounter...

English case looks under the hood of Facebook in privacy case

Posted on July 24, 2008
A colleague just brought to my attention a case handed down yesterday by the High Court of Justice (Queen's Bench Division) of England & Wales: Applause Store Productions Ltd. & Anor v Raphael [2008] EWHC 1781 (QB) (24 July 2008). The case relates to the misuse of private information and defamation...

ALA calls for a privacy revolution

Posted on July 23, 2008
At the end of June, I blogged about a new initiative by the American Library Association calling for a "privacy revolution" (Canadian Privacy Law Blog: "If you need privacy, you should get your own computer."). The initiative now has its own website and an interesting concept paper...

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Canadian IT Law Association annual conference

Posted on July 23, 2008
The Canadian IT Law Association's annual conference is in Halifax this year. In addition to famous Maritime hospitality, attendees can expect to learn the latest in IT, IP and privacy law. The brochure is online here.It should be great, and I'm not just saying that because I'm the conference co-chair...

Airport kiosks suspected in fraud probe

Posted on July 23, 2008
This morning's Globe & Mail ran a story about an apparent connection between a rash of credit card fraud and the check-in kiosks at Toronto's Pearson International Airport. The Airport Authority has said they've checked them out and think all is well: WestJet suspends credit-card kiosk check-ins amid fraud probe ...

A promise like that would require lawyers, money, and probably guns

Posted on July 21, 2008
This is brilliant: FAQs about Mailinator What is Mailinator's official privacy policy? The official policy is something like: At Mailinator, THERE IS NONE. Expect that any email you send or have sent here can be viewed by anyone. Mailinator/ManyBrain does NOT ask, require or even want any of your personal information...

Federal Commissioner funds research into surveillance in Canada

Posted on July 20, 2008
As part of its contributions program (Contributions Program 2008-2009 - Backgrounder - Privacy Commissioner of Canada), the Ofice of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada is funding a project to look into surveillence in Canada: Organization: Queen?s University ?The Surveillance Project, Department of Sociology Location: Ontario Funding amount: $50,000 Project title: Camera Surveillance in Canada: Current Trends Project description: There is a surprising lack of Canadian research to date on the development of camera surveillance, and the proliferation of surveillance cameras in Canada is occurring without enough oversight or public debate...

Privacy dilemma illustrated in Vermont library

Posted on July 20, 2008
The local Halifax paper is running an AP story about the tough choices that custodians of personal information are sometimes called upon to make. After a young girl went missing, the police showed up at the public library demanding to take the public access computers that the girl had apparently used to communicate on MySpace...

Supreme Court rules on Privacy Commissioner's power to review privileged documents

Posted on July 17, 2008
The Supreme Court of Canada has just handed down its decision in Canada (Privacy Commissioner) v. Blood Tribe Department of Health, which was a question of whether the Privacy Commissioner could review documents to determine whether claims of privilege have been properly applied...

Google and Viacom agree to protect user privacy

Posted on July 16, 2008
When the order was made that Google provide Viacom with its raw user logs (a move which significantly compromised user privacy), I wrote that the court could have ordered that the information be anonymised. (Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Commentary on the YouTube / Viacom order) I don't think I can take any credit for this next move, but I'm sure the loud outcry has had an influence: Google and Viacom have agreed to anonymise the data using a one-way function so that the actual IP addresses cannot be reverse-engineered and Viacom has agreed to not even try...

Ask the privacy lawyer: Data in transit outside of Canada

Posted on July 15, 2008
I received the following question the other day: In terms of personal data that was captured by a healthcare company while a patient in Canada, and relayed to another city in Canada for analysis, further use, etc., does that patient data have to remain in Canada ? or is it allowed to traverse the US border at any time during its journey across the continent ? My concern is that communication networks don't seem to be restricted to intra-Canada operation or due to congestion or failure, most have to use large data highways that may cross over into the United States...

Privacy protections disappear with a judge's order

Posted on July 11, 2008
More commentary on the Viacom v. Google/YouTube case, this time from MIT's Technology review: Technology Review: Privacy protections disappear with a judge's order Privacy protections disappear with a judge's order By Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) _ Credit card companies know what you've bought...

Edmonton addresses perception of public safety with surveillance cameras

Posted on July 10, 2008
The police in Edmonton, Alberta are proposing to place surveillance cameras on the city's popular strip. Frank Work, the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta is not impressed. And in case you were wondering if this is about perceptions, here you have it directly from Sgt...

Judge Protects YouTube's Source Code, Throws Users To The Wolves

Posted on July 10, 2008
It is not often that a columnist for a major national newpaper calls a federal court judge a moron, but that's just what Michael Arrington on the Washtington Post website calls Judge Stanton, referring to Viacom v. Google/YouTube. See: Judge Protects YouTube's Source Code, Throws Users To The Wolves - washingtonpost...

Ontario Commissioner calls on Google to appeal Viacom / Youtube ruling

Posted on July 10, 2008
Hot off the presses: The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario has written to Google calling for Google to appeal the recent Viacom v. Google disclosure order:CNW Group OFFICE OF THE INFORMATION AND PRIVACY COMMISSIONER/ONTARIO Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian urges Google to appeal YouTube ruling Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian urges Google to appeal YouTube ruling TORONTO, July 10 /CNW/ - Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian is urging Google to appeal the recent ruling of U...

Commentary on the YouTube / Viacom order

Posted on July 08, 2008
I had the chance yesterday to read the decision in Viacom International v. YouTube (previously: Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Judge orders that YouTube hand over viewer records). The request and the order are appalling from a privacy point of view, in my humble opinion...

UK Commissioner calls for complete overhaul of European DP laws

Posted on July 07, 2008
The UK Information Commissioner is calling for a complete overhaul of privacy/data protection in Europe. Think-tank RAND Europe has been commissioned to review the whole state of affairs and report back in April 2009. Watch this space for the results ...

Keep your friends close, but your laptop closer ... Especially in airports

Posted on July 05, 2008
According to a recent study conducted by the Ponemon Institute, 10,000 laptops are lost/stolen each week in US airports. While the commentary on this study talks about confidential business information, I am confident that the majoriy of these laptops also contain personal information...

Saskatchewan Commissioner releases annual report

Posted on July 03, 2008
The Information and Privacy Commissioner of Saskatchewan, Gary Dickson QC, has released his annual report today. Here is the "Quick Overview": A Quick Overview This is my fifth Annual Report as Saskatchewan?s first full-time Commissioner. Some good progress has been achieved in terms of access to information and privacy compliance in a number of areas...

Judge orders that YouTube hand over viewer records

Posted on July 03, 2008
This is some pretty scary stuff. Not only has Viacom (shame on Viacom) demanded that Google hand over the records of all users who viewed certain YouTube videos (yup, viewed not uploaded) but a Judge has actually ordered this. Perhaps not surprisingly, Google's argument that IP addresses are not personal information has been used against its arguments that handing over this information would be unduly intrusive of personal privacy...

Most Canadians resist sharing personal details with stores: Poll

Posted on July 02, 2008
When I give presentations on Canadian privacy law, the number one question I get -- without exception -- is whether a retailer can ask for your phone number or postal code at the point of sale. Sometimes I'm asked about asking for ID when making returns...

Stop watching us watching you!

Posted on June 29, 2008
Slate always has a good selection of editorial cartoons here. This one's pretty good ...

Cross-border movement of personal health information

Posted on June 29, 2008
Earlier this week, I co-chaired Insight Information's conference on electronic health records here in Halifax. I was very pleased to see a lot of expertise in privacy developing in Atlantic Canada, which is necessary as Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland move towards developing and implementing health privacy laws and as electronic health record projects are driving forward...

Marina Hyde: This surveillance onslaught is draconian and creepy

Posted on June 28, 2008
Because actions speak louder than words, one can easily assume that the British populace is completely passive and accepting of the explosion of CCTV surveillance throughout the green and pleasant lands of England. There is some dissent. Witness: Marina Hyde who has an interesting opinion piece in The Guardian...

US and Europe closer to information sharing pact

Posted on June 28, 2008
For over a year now, the United States and the European Union have been negotiating an arrangement so that US law enforcement and national security organizations can have easier access to data in Europe and about Europeans. The New York Times is reporting that that the two parties are closer to an arrangement that would permit trolling through personal information for suspicious activities, such as the review of SWIFT data that the American government undertook as the data was resident in the United States...

CCTV can cut both ways

Posted on June 28, 2008
Sometimes CCTV can prove that someone is innocent. And that the cops framed them. wcbstv.com - Undercover NYPD Officers Frame 4 On Drug Charges ....The undercover NYPD officers are seen on video dancing in the street, then attempting to frame four innocent men...

"If you need privacy, you should get your own computer."

Posted on June 28, 2008
The American Library Association has always been a reasoned and reasonable voice for privacy in libraries and the wider community. I was interested to learn they are doing a panel tomorrow at their annual get-together in Anaheim, California entitled "Privacy: Is it time for a revolution": Protecting reader privacy and confidentiality has long been an integral part of the mission of ALA and its members...

Maritime noon phone-in

Posted on June 24, 2008
I was the guest on Maritime Noon's phone-in show today, discussing privacy and protecting personal information. (Someone who shall remain nameless doubted one could fill an hour with privacy questions, but she was proven wrong. Apparently the board lit up for the hour...

Cloned!

Posted on June 24, 2008
Last week, I got a call first thing in the morning from my bank. According to their fraud department, it appeared that my debit card had been used fraudulently. Someone had taken a few hundred bucks out of my account at what appeared to be a no-name cash machine...

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