Legal Commentary

Privacy as a filter failure

Posted on September 23, 2008
There is a video of Clay Shirky giving a presentation entitled It’s Not Information Overload. It’s Filter Failure (ht @JDTwitt from Twitter) .  The part I found most interesting starts around the 12 minute mark, where he talks about privacy...

London needs a Performing Arts Centre ? Now

Posted on September 22, 2008
London needs a proper performing arts centre.  We need to get on with it and get it done.  The City’s decision of a few months ago not to fund a study was disappointing.  A debate about whether the proposed study had the right focus, or whether it covered ground already looked at would have been healthy...

Wikipedia uses me as a source - reliable?

Posted on September 18, 2008
I just noticed that the Wikipedia entry on the Streisand Effect links to a London Free Press article I wrote on the subject as the first footnote. So does this advance the notion that Wikipedia is unreliable because it uses dubious sources, or the notion that it is reliable because it uses authoritative sources?   I’m not [...

Yet another attempt at DRM

Posted on September 17, 2008
That’s the title of my weekly Slaw post today. It says: There have been a few articles recently talking about a new proposed method of digital rights management called Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem. The idea is to control what we do with video purchased online, and allow us to use it on multiple devices...

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London Biotech week - Sept 22-26

Posted on September 16, 2008
The London TechAlliance is having its annual biotech week next week. Check out their calendar for the various events. One of the events that might be of interest to any tech business, not just biotech, is a seminar on Sept 24 entitled “Accelerate London Business Seminar”...

Ruling favours copyright holders

Posted on September 15, 2008
For the London Free Press - September 15, 2008 Read this on Canoe A recent U.S. Federal Appeals Court ruling has found that copyright laws apply to free software licences. The Court in Jacobson versus Katzer held that copyright holders “who engage in open-source licensing have the right to control the modification and distribution of copyrighted material...

Oct 11 is international day of protest against surveillance

Posted on September 10, 2008
That’s the title of my Slaw post today.   It reads: Boing Boing has a recent post that refers to a day of protest being organized in the EU. Some excerpts: An international protest against undue surveillance is being held next month on the 11th of October...

Google reduces personal info retention times

Posted on September 09, 2008
David Fraser points out that Google has announced that they are reducing the time before they anonymize IP addresses on their server logs from 18 months to 9 months.   That’s in reponse to privacy regulators. Google’s blog entry on the point is a good read as it discusses the trade-off’s between privacy and the advantages they [...

Who owns your Facebook friends?

Posted on September 08, 2008
For the London Free Press - September 8, 2008 Read this on Canoe A U.K. court recently ordered an ex-employee of a recruitment firm to disclose details of his profile, business contacts and e-mails at his social networking site, LinkedIn, to his former employer...

Support fair copyright - buy a T-shirt

Posted on June 25, 2008
Fair Copyright fo Canada has launched a line of apparel, mugs, buttons, etc to promote their cause - ie the fight against bill C-61. One of the reasons this is noteworthy is that it is another use of a Web...

Support Fair Copyright for Canada - buy a T-shirt

Posted on June 25, 2008
Fair Copyright fo Canada has launched a line of apparel, mugs, buttons, etc to promote their cause - ie the fight against bill C-61. One of the reasons this is noteworthy is that it is another use of a Web...

Everyone has a role to play regarding privacy

Posted on June 24, 2008
David Fraser has 2 posts on his Canadian Privacy Law Blog that together emphasize that to be effective, an organization's privacy officer must have support at the highest levels of the organization, and must be able to influence various areas...

Copyright amendment bill draws fire

Posted on June 23, 2008
For the London Free Press - June 23, 2008 Read this on Canoe On June 12, the federal government introduced Bill C-61, an Act to Amend the Copyright Act. A hailstorm of critical comment followed within hours. This bill amends...

Copyright bill - examples to show it is flawed

Posted on June 18, 2008
If anyone is wondering what the fuss is all about over bill C-61, its worth taking a look at Michael's series of posts entitled A Week in the Life of the Canadian DMCA.. The posts describe activities that we all...

Privacy laws not absolute

Posted on June 16, 2008
For the London Free Press - June 16, 2008 Read this on Canoe Ontario information and privacy commissioner Anne Cavoukian has expressed concern for the tainted image of privacy laws in Canada. In her 2007 annual report, available at www.ipc.on.ca,...

C-61 Copyright bill results in storm of criticism

Posted on June 13, 2008
The press and blogosphere has been all over yesterday's introduction of the copyright bill. The vast majority of the comments are negative, and rightly so. I don't recall ever seeing so much commentary on legislation so quickly - it hasn't...

The paperless office

Posted on June 12, 2008
Slaw.ca posted a good article recently entitled Revisiting the Paperlesss Office that contains some history on the topic, and some tips for reducing paper. It comments that we have the technology and tools to do it - what we need...

Tips to avoid identity theft and fraud

Posted on June 11, 2008
Inside CRM has an article entitled 50 Ways to Take Back Control of Your Personal Data that is a good list of best practices to protect personal information. Many of the references contain details relevant only to those that live...

Online sales still mostly off

Posted on June 09, 2008
For the London Free Press - June 9, 2008 Read this on Canoe New figures released by Statistics Canada reveal a lack of response from public- and private-sector enterprises to the increasing demands for electronic commerce and technology. The figures....

Be careful with GPL3 software

Posted on June 04, 2008
Law.com has an article entitled Open Source Software Shows Its Muscle that talks about the perils of using open source software that uses the GPL3 license. If one just uses some open source software with the GPL3 license on its...

'Spare time' phenomenon being transformed - Cognitive Surplus

Posted on June 02, 2008
For the London Free Press - June 2, 2008 Read this on Canoe Check out the video A common refrain when talking about people contributing to online pursuits such as writing Wikipedia articles is, "Where do people find the time?"...

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement opposition grows

Posted on May 30, 2008
The more I read about this, and the ramifications sink in, the less I like it. The combination of the expected copyright reform bill and this proposed treaty leads us down the wrong path. Its a backwards step and out...

Olympic tickets to contain personal information

Posted on May 29, 2008
Apparently the tickets for this summer's Olympics will contain a microchip with the ticket holder's photograph, passport details, addresses, e-mail, and telephone numbers. The idea is to keep troublemakers and protestors out of the stands. Of course this raises issues...

Anti-counterfeiting Trade Agreement controversy

Posted on May 28, 2008
Several blogs and newspaper articles have mentioned a leaked document that describes the ACTA negoitiations. It is a proposed treaty among a few countries to help stem the flow of counterfeit goods at borders. The proposed treaty and the way...

Net Neutrality rally today on Parliament Hill

Posted on May 27, 2008
There will be a rally today on Parliament Hill in Ottawa from 11:30 to 1:30 to support net neutrality. For more details see: netneutralityrally.ca neutrality.ca Campaign for Democratic Media...

Future of online legacy upon death a new issue

Posted on May 26, 2008
For the London Free Press - May 26, 2008 Read this on Canoe A new aspect of estate planning has arisen with the advance of the Internet -- the preservation of one's online legacy. It's no longer as simple as...

Ontario Privacy Commissioner releases 2007 annual report

Posted on May 22, 2008
Ann Cavoukian just released her 2007 annual report, a 76 page report including statistics on complaints and information requests, significant cases, and her views on some important issues going forward. David Fraser summarizes it by saying "apparently it was a...

The ingenuity gap / climate change / peak oil

Posted on May 21, 2008
Just attended the London TechAlliance AGM, which featured Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon as the speaker. He presented a rather sobering view of the severity of the problems of climate change, carbon emissions, and peak oil. His message for solving these is...

CRTC to look into broadcasting and new media

Posted on May 16, 2008
The CRTC just announced that they will be having a public hearing in early 2009 about broadcasting and the new media environment. The CRTC regulates traditional broadcasters. In 1999 the CRTC decided that it would not deal with the internet....

CRTC throttling / network neutrality submissions

Posted on May 15, 2008
The CRTC refused to grant CAIP's (Canadian Association of Internet Providers) requested interim injunction to stop Bell's throttling of internet traffic, but has published a plan to consider the issue in detail. Anyone concerned about this issue has until Jun...

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