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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

Santa's privacy policy

Posted on December 23, 2010
This is a must read: McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Santa's Privacy Policy. Hat-tip to @privacyprivee for the link.

Federal Court awards PIPEDA damages due to inaccurate credit report

Posted on December 21, 2010
In what appears to be a break from the recent cases that have declined to award damages to applicants under PIPEDA, the Federal Court in Nammo v. Transunion of Canada Inc., 2010 FC 1284 has just recently awarded damages to an individual whose loan application was declined due to inaccurate information provided by a credit bureau...

Washington Post on Monitoring America

Posted on December 20, 2010
The Washington Post has a monumental investigative report on "Top Secret America" focused on Monitoring America. Here's a summary: Monitoring America | washingtonpost.com Top Secret America is a project two years in the making that describes the huge security buildup in the United States after the Sept...

Ontario access to information decision may affect cloud computing decisions

Posted on December 16, 2010
Dan Michaluk has a great summary of a recent and important access to information case from Ottawa, City of Ottawa v. Ontario (Information and Privacy Commissioner) (13 December 2010, Ont Div. Ct.): Case Report ? Personal e-mails not subject to FOI legislation Ť All About Information...

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Facebook implements facial recognition, silent on privacy

Posted on December 16, 2010
Facebook has just announced that it is implementing facial recognition software to "make it easier to tag your friends" in photos. It will make tagging the same person over and over in an album much easier, but their blog post (Making Photo Tagging Easier) doesn't address privacy at all...

Canada's anti-spam act passes and receives royal assent

Posted on December 16, 2010
Bill C-28, Fighting Internet and Wireless Spam Act, also known as the anti-spam act, has passed through the sentate and received royal assent on December 15, 2010. It comes into force on the day or days set by the Governor in Council. Check it out: LEGISINFO - The Library of Parliament's research tool for finding information on legislation...

Caption this photo (TSA)

Posted on December 15, 2010
I was going to link to this interesting photo (which is devoid of additional context) from Boing Boing, but then noticed the ad which makes an interesting juxtaposition. Check it out, though you ad may vary: TSA WTF OTD - Boing Boing.

American Appeals Court says cops need warrants (with probable cause) to get e-mails

Posted on December 14, 2010
This is great news, both for e-mail users and for greater adoption of cloud computing. Contrary to Department of Justice lawyers (and too many precedents on their side), the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has found that stored e-mails can't be accessed by law enforcement without a valid warrant...

Wikileaks and Privacy

Posted on December 13, 2010
A friend of mine who is now at Lattice Engines sent me this link written by one of his friends about WikiLeaks and privacy: Wish you were beer: Wikileaks and Privacy. I'm not sure where I am on this debate yet. I am in favour of transparency and generally agree with the idea of a work product exception to privacy regulations (e...

University of Alberta signs on to Gmail

Posted on December 11, 2010
Interesting development, from the Edmonton Journal:University of Alberta signs on to Gmail EDMONTON ? The University of Alberta and Google concluded legal negotiations this week, preparing the way for better e-mail service for students and entry into the Canadian university market for the Internet giant...

Jennifer Stoddart: making your privacy her business

Posted on December 11, 2010
Today's Globe & Mail has an interesting profile of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart. It's a bit lightweight, but an interesting read. See: Jennifer Stoddart: making your privacy her business - The Globe and Mail.

The first truly honest privacy policy

Posted on December 10, 2010
This is pretty amusing (cynical, but amusing). The author has "open sourced" it, so here it is in all its glory but follow the link to get the accompanying commentary: The first truly honest privacy policy ... Instead of a welter of new laws or regulations, how about just one: The Honest Privacy Policy Act...

Ottawa crafts plan to ward off privacy criticism over U.S. border deal

Posted on December 10, 2010
The Globe &amp Mail has received a secret briefing document on developing a communications plan for selling an upcoming deal with the United States to create a common security perimeter around Canada and the US. The document list the Privacy Commissioner as a likely critic of the plan: Ottawa crafts plan to ward off criticism over U...

Missing laptops spark strong reaction from Alberta Privacy Commissioner

Posted on December 10, 2010
A rash of missing or stolen laptops has prompted Alberta's Information and Privacy Commissioner to speak out strongly on the issue of encryption and data security:CBC News - Calgary - Stolen Alta. laptops held health data Seven laptops or digital devices with unencrypted health, employee and financial information have been lost or stolen in Alberta in the past month, prompting disbelief Thursday from Alberta Privacy Commissioner Frank Work...

Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities commit to collaboration

Posted on December 08, 2010
We are seeing the growth of formal and informal structures being put in place by privacy commissioners and their counterparts worldwide to foster interjurisdictional collaboration. We've recently seen the establishment of the Global Privacy Enforcement Network and now the Asia Pacific Privacy Authorities form has concluded in Auckland with a further commitment to cross-border collaboration: Privacy Commissioners Commit To Continue International Collaboration | Voxy...

South Korea investigates Facebook for allegedly breaching privacy laws

Posted on December 08, 2010
Facebook is facing scrutiny and an investigation by data protection authorities in South Korea for allegedly not getting user consent before collecting personal information, though the site's terms and conditions do a standard job of covering the topic...

Back online!

Posted on December 07, 2010
After a week of 404's, the Canadian Privacy Law Blog back in business. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Visa proposes to use location info to prevent fraud

Posted on November 30, 2010
I usually am not a fan of being profiled and data mined by companies without my knowledge, but there is one clear exception: I am delighted my bank takes such an interest in who I am and what I buy to prevent fraud. Loyal readers my recall my experience with having my debit card cloned, which was detected because my bank knows that I am not in the habit of withdrawing a few hundred dollars from my bank account at ATMs located in strip clubs...

Facebook sued for HAVING privacy controls

Posted on November 30, 2010
TechCrunch is reporting that Facebook is facing a patent infringement lawsuit in the US for having privacy controls. Yup, you heard that right. The plaintiff is alleging that Facebook's privacy controls infringe a prior patent.You simply can't win in this world...

Ottawa Citizen: On guard for privacy

Posted on November 29, 2010
The Privacy Commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, is the subject of a very complimentary editorial in today's Ottawa Citizen.On guard for privacy OTTAWA CITIZEN NOVEMBER 29, 2010 7:55 AM The rule for political survival under Stephen Harper's government seems to be: smile and nod, and hope no one notices you...

Privacy in the cloud for Canadian universities

Posted on November 28, 2010
This past week, I was invited to speak at the annual get-together of The Canadian University Council of CIOs (CUCCIO) in Toronto on the topic of cloud computing. Many universities in Canada are struggling with the legal and privacy issues of adopting cloud computing, particularly when Google and Microsoft are both offering very attractive (and free!) offerings that would relieve universities of the costs and burdens of administering student and alumni e-mail...

Canadian courts set high bar for privacy damage awards

Posted on November 28, 2010
Michael Geist's latest Toronto Star column addresses the two recent Federal Court decisions (Stevens and Randall) where the bar for damages has been set (unreasonably?) high. See: Geist: Canadian courts set high bar for privacy damage awards - thestar...

Jennifer Stoddart nominated for reappointment as Privacy Commissioner

Posted on November 25, 2010
The Prime Minister's Office has announced that the current Privacy Commissioner of Canada has been nominated for reappointment for a further three year term. It's worth noting that this is shorter than the usual full term.From the Prime Minister's press release:PM nominates Privacy Commissioner for reappointment - Prime Minister of Canada 24 November 2010 Ottawa, Ontario Prime Minister Stephen Harper today announced the nomination of Jennifer Stoddart for reappointment as Privacy Commissioner of Canada for a three-year term...

Supreme Court considers privacy in electricity consumption

Posted on November 25, 2010
Yesterday, the Supreme Court of Canada released its decision in R. v. Gomboc, 2010 SCC 55 (CanLII), where the Court considered the use of a digital recording ammeter to determine the electricity consumption of a private home to form the basis (in part) for a search warrant related to a suspected marijuana grow-op...

Federal Court dismisses damages claims, considers what is compensable under PIPEDA

Posted on November 19, 2010
Dan Michaluk has a good summary of a very recent case from the Federal Court in Stevens v. SNF Maritime Metal Inc., 2010 FC 1137, where a claim for damages was dismissed as essentially an end-run around other potential causes of action. In this case, for wrongful termination...

Opt out, while you still can: Airport security reaches new levels of absurdity

Posted on November 15, 2010
"Ask the Pilot", over at Salon.com, has a great/sad illustration of the absurdity of idiotic policies and slavish adherence to these policies at airport screening: Airport security reaches new levels of absurdity - Ask the Pilot - Salon.com.Over the past year, I've been "randomly" selected for the virtual stip-search about a half dozen times...

Federal website leaked personal information

Posted on November 11, 2010
The CBC is reporting that an important government website had a significant security glitch that led to the disclosure of sensitive personal information of about 75 people. The site, Access Key, was launched on September 26 and the problem occurred within days...

Obama administration has plans for online privacy law

Posted on November 11, 2010
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Obama administration is preparing to table proposals for a new, comprehensive online privacy regime in the United States. Initiatives like this have been floated before, so it will be interesting to see what it looks like when it sees the light of day...

Nova Scotia to table health information legislation today

Posted on November 09, 2010
The Nova Scotia Minister of Health is expected to table the latest iteration of the Personal Health Information Act in the Nova Scotia legislature this afternoon. Expect to see the text of the bill here as soon as it's tabled. See: Health minister expected to table personal information bill today - NovaScotia - TheChronicleHerald...

Eroding Financial Privacy: PIPEDA & FATCA

Posted on November 04, 2010
Last week, Michael Power blogged about the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act. This week, he's got a more detailed post about that Act and how it affects organizations' obligations under PIPEDA. Check it out: Michael Power * Eroding Financial Privacy: PIPEDA & FATCA...

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