Backblog | Technology Law

Appeared in the Toronto Star on April 27, 2013 as Your Information is Not Secure in Ottawa As Canadians focused last week on the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing and the RCMP arrests of two men accused of plotting to attack Via Rail, the largest sustained series of privacy breaches in Canadian history was uncovered but attracted only limited attention.

Hollywood crime dramas are infamous for the scene when an accused is taken to a local police station and permitted a single phone call to contact a relative or lawyer. While the storyline is myth - there is no limit on the number of phone calls available to an accused or detainee - a recent Alberta case established a new, real requirement for law enforcement.

In a surprising and troubling decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal has permitted a police search of a cellphone that was not password protected or locked during the course of an arrest.

For the past month, business groups from across the country have waged an extraordinary campaign against Canada's anti-spam legislation.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced yesterday [Feb. 11, 2013] that the government will not be proceeding with Bill C-30, the lawful access/Internet surveillance legislation:

Yesterday's post [Feb. 6, 2013] on the coalition of business lobby groups support for a spyware provision in the Canadian anti-spam law attracted considerable attention, with many shocked at the breadth of the proposal.

Canadians frustrated with ever-increasing cable and satellite bills received bad news last week with the announcement that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will consider whether to require cable and satellite companies to include nearly two-dozen niche channels as part of their basic service packages.

Over the past couple of weeks, there have been a myriad of posts and articles criticizing Canada's anti-spam legislation. According to some posts - primarily those by Barry Sookman - the legislation will stop family members from sending commercial email to each other, parents from promoting their children's lemonade stands, and discriminate against charities and schools.  Is this true

The Internet community has been reeling for the past week as it grapples with the suicide of Aaron Swartz, a prominent digital rights activist who left a remarkable legacy for a 26-year old.

More than a decade of debate over Canadian copyright reform came to a conclusion last week as Bill C-11, the fourth try at reform since 2005, formally took effect. While several elements of the bill still await further regulations, the biggest overhaul of Canadian copyright law in years is now largely complete.

The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police renewed its call for Internet surveillance legislation on Friday, urging the government to move forward with Bill C-30.

Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro has raised the prospect of government regulation of online anonymity, arguing that Parliament should address the issue of forcing people to identify themselves before posting comments online.

Earlier this month, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission invited the public to help create a national code of conduct for wireless companies such as Bell, Rogers, and Telus.

Last week's Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications decision to reject the proposed Bell - Astral merger surprised most observers, as few predicted with much confidence that the deal would be flatly rejected.

The Globe's John Ibbitson has a column on Bill C-30, the lawful access/Internet surveillance bill, that he says dying a quiet death.

The government continues to drag its feet on bringing forward anti-spam regulations - Canada's anti-spam law received royal assent in 2010 but won't take effect until 2013 at the earliest - but the CRTC seems determined to move things forward.

Given the enormous popularity of social media, establishing a foothold on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other popular websites has become a top priority for most organizations.  The same is true for the federal government, which last year released a lengthy policy document that established the rules for departmental engagement with "Web 2.0" sites and tools.

A B.C. man has filed a lawsuit against Google over the scanning of emails sent to Gmail users.

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority released the results of its board of directors election yesterday and I was very pleased to be elected to the board with the largest number of votes of any candidate.

Ten years ago, sixteen experts from around the world gathered in Budapest, Hungary to discuss the how the Internet was changing the way researchers could disseminate their work. The group hatched a plan to "accelerate research, enrich education, share the learning of the rich with the poor and the poor with the rich, make this literature as useful as it can be, and lay the foundation for uniting humanity in a common intellectual conversation and quest for knowledge."

The Canadian Internet Registration Authority, which manages the dot-ca domain, opens its board of directors election at noon ET today.  CIRA members are eligible to vote from September 19th until September 26th, with five seats at stake - two member-nominated seats and three nominating-committee seats. I am on the ballot for a member-nominated seat and would appreciate your support.

With the start of the school year less than two weeks away, the Canadian education community is increasingly thinking about copyright and the implications of Bill C-11 and the Supreme Court of Canada's five copyright decisions. While Access Copyright argues that little has changed (in recent correspondence to the Copyright Board it even objected to a six-month delay in formulating a school survey on copying practices to fully account for Bill C-11 and the decisions), most recognize that the law has undergone a dramatic change that confirms significant flexibilities for educational uses.

Earlier this year, I wrote a column and post about proposed governance changes to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority in which I expressed concern that the plans would remove the ability for CIRA members to nominate their own candidates to the board.

As public concern over Internet privacy has grown in recent years, one of the first responses is invariably to focus on the need for improved disclosure through easily accessible website privacy policies. The policies provide information on how personal information is collected, used, and disclosed to third parties.

Last week [July 16-22], the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission announced that it is terminating the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF). The fund, which was established in 2008, funneled over $300 million to broadcasters to support the creation of local programming. The decision caught the industry by surprise with the CBC calling it "astonishing" and Bell Media saying it is a "major concern."