Legal Commentary

Internet cafe surveillance ?security theatre?

Posted on May 03, 2010
For the London Free Press – Mar 3, 2010 Read this on Canoe General public, especially Muslims, likely unintended target of move by U.K. police to monitor customers? web travels Internet cafes in the United Kingdom are the latest victims of privacy invasive counter terrorism measures...

Ethics of downloading something you’ve already paid for – Techdirt

Posted on April 29, 2010
Techdirt has a post that’s worth a read that talks about a debate sparked by the NY Times and Computerworld about the ethics of downloading something you have already paid for.  Its an issue worth considering, especially in light of an expected new copyright reform bill in Canada...

Privacy Commissioner consultations re online profiling

Posted on April 28, 2010
That’s the title of my Slaw post for today.  It reads as follows: The Canadian Privacy Commissioner is in the midst of  consultations on the privacy impacts of online tracking, profiling and targeting.  The first public event is a panel discussion taking place today  correction – Thursday the 29th in Toronto from 8:30 til 4:15...

Gizmodo / Chen computer seizure – another reason for offsite backup

Posted on April 27, 2010
California police obtained a warrant and seized computer equipment from the home of Gizmodo editor Jason Chen.  Gizmodo is fighting back, saying that the seizure violates journalist shield laws.  This is part of an investigation into Gizmodo allegedly paying someone to give them a misplaced Apple iPhone prototype...

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Happy World Intellectual Property Day

Posted on April 26, 2010
Today is World Intellectual Property Day.   WIPO (the World Intellectual Property Organization) states that this day is meant: - to raise awareness of how patents, copyright, trademarks and designs impact on daily life; - to increase understanding of how protecting IP rights helps promote creativity and innovation; - to celebrate creativity, and the contribution made by creators and [...

Purge data from photocopiers on disposal to avoid data leaks

Posted on April 23, 2010
A CBS report earlier this week talked about the information that is contained on photocopier hard drives, and how it is there for the taking on used machines.   Many people don’t realize that when photocopiers changed from analogue to digital technology several years ago, they work by storing print and copy jobs on internal hard [...

laptop spy lawsuit / scandal

Posted on April 21, 2010
That’s the title of my Slaw post for today.  It reads as follows. There is a lawsuit  and a criminal investigation underway resulting from a school outside of Philadelphia that secretly took pictures of students with webcams on laptops supplied by the school...

letter to Google by 10 privacy commissioners

Posted on April 20, 2010
The Canadian Privacy commissioner, and 9 of her colleagues from various countries, sent a joint letter to Google yesterday expressing concern about Google’s rollout of Google Buzz. The letter says in part: However, we are increasingly concerned that, too often, the privacy rights of the world?s citizens are being forgotten as Google rolls out new technological applications...

isoHunt operator vows copyright ruling appeal

Posted on April 19, 2010
For the London Free Press – April 19, 2010 Read this on Canoe n December 2009, isoHunt, a BitTorrent and peer-to-peer search engine, was found liable by a U.S. District Court judge for inducing copyright infringement. The operator of the isoHunt website says he will appeal...

Tech in the courtroom – two steps back

Posted on April 16, 2010
The National Post ran a story yesterday after a JP refused to allow defence counsel to use his laptop in the courtroom, on the basis that it violated a rule against electronic recording devices.  The trial was adjourned because his notes were on it, and he could not proceed without it...

US government study: Piracy statistics unreliable

Posted on April 14, 2010
That’s the title of my Slaw post for today.  It reads as follows. We have seen much pressure over the years for governments to enact tougher laws for piracy and counterfeiting – often based on statistics that lead to conclusions that billions of dollars are being lost because of it...

Viacom disguised YouTube use

Posted on April 12, 2010
For the London Free Press – April 12, 2010 Read this on Canoe Copyright infringement: Even its own employees couldn?t keep track of everything it posted or left on the site as promotions Three years ago, Viacom sued YouTube for $1 billion based on claims of copyright infringement for unauthorized posting of Viacom copyrighted material...

UK passes controversial Digital Economy Bill

Posted on April 09, 2010
The UK government rammed through a controversial bill that includes provisions similar to the much maligned three strikes laws.     Its beyond me why governments insist on urgently passing this kind of thing without thinking it through, and without taking the time to really listen to various viewpoints, or understand where technology, the economy, and culture is [...

Law Society’s Ontario Reports go digital

Posted on April 08, 2010
The Ontario Reports is a weekly publication sent by the Law Society of Upper Canada to all Ontario lawyers.  It contains court decisions, law society notices, and ads aimed at lawyers.  Frankly, its a lot of paper – and changing it to a virtual edition is long overdue...

Jury confirms Novell owns Unix copyrights – Linux remains free

Posted on April 07, 2010
That’s the title of my Slaw post for today.  It reads as follows: We have not heard much about this lately, partly because a summary judgment in 2007 stated that Novell owned the Unix code.   A jury confirmed last week that SCO had not acquired the copyright to Unix from Novell in an asset purchase agreement...

Ruling sets parameters governing hyperlinks

Posted on April 05, 2010
For the London Free Press – April 5, 2010 Read this on Canoe Court upholds judge?s decision a hyperlink to defamatory material doesn?t make the person posting the link liable for defamation The British Columbia Court of Appeal decision in Crookes vs...

North Face & South Butt settle

Posted on April 05, 2010
A few weeks ago I wrote about the North Face clothing company suing the seller of South Butt parody apparel. Apparently they have settled, and South Butt remains in business.  As is typical with settlements, the terms have not been made public. See a Techdirt comment on the settlement, and an AmLaw Daily report.

Collection frauds against lawyers

Posted on April 01, 2010
Over the last while we have seen an increasing number of attempted frauds against lawyers.   Most are a scheme where a new client wants help to collect a debt.   The debt gets collected – by way of a fraudulent cheque – and pressure is put on to pay the funds to the client before the [...

Digital content, paywalls, newspapers, and the practice of law

Posted on March 31, 2010
That’s the title of my Slaw post for today.   It reads as follows: Tom Jenkins of Open Text spoke at the London TechAlliance “Gearing Up For Growth” conference yesterday about digital media in Canada.    He likened the current position of traditional media (TV, newspapers) to town criers at the advent of the printing press...

Ramifications of Google ruling far-reaching

Posted on March 29, 2010
For the London Free Press – March 29, 2010 Read this on Canoe Three Google executives were convicted of data privacy violations over a video they neither created nor posted. The international legal community was shocked when four Google executives had criminal charges filed against them in Italy a few years ago...

Tradition and precedent are evil – get over it

Posted on March 25, 2010
Tradition, history, culture and precedent are good when it defines, guides, teaches, and unites. But its bad when it limits, insulates, controls, impedes, enslaves, shackles, incites, breeds mistrust, fosters hate, causes intolerance, causes hostility, closes minds, prevents empathy, prevents progress, limits understanding, limits learning, stifles thought, displaces logic, and limits creativity...

iPhone app vs. mobile friendly site

Posted on March 24, 2010
That’s the title of my Slaw post for today.   It reads as follows: Omar wrote recently about the Tory’s iPhone app.   And some individuals, such as Michael Geist and Jim Carroll have created iPhone apps.  They essentially provide an iPhone friendly way to consume one’s web site, blogs, twitter, etc...

Limitations difficult to draft

Posted on March 22, 2010
For the London Free Press – March 22, 2010 Read this on Canoe Liability: Courts construe limitations clauses as narrowly as they possibly can. The Supreme Court of Canada recently released a landmark decision regarding the applicability of clauses that limit liability under a contract...

Tablet competition heating up

Posted on March 19, 2010
The iPad will start shipping in a few weeks.  While it is perhaps the first to market, the standard to which all others will be compared, and will no doubt sell in large numbers - it is by no means the only option.   I’ve read estimates of 50 to 100 similar devices in the works...

Amabile’s Beth’s song now on iTunes

Posted on March 18, 2010
Beth?s Song is performed by the Amabile Boys and Men’s choir, along with a soloist from the Amabile Girls and Women’s choirs.  The song was written as a companion to the book ?Sing Me to Sleep?.   On the iTunes preview we only hear the soloist – the 85 male voices (my son being one of them) start about [...

Canada needs broadband boost to remain competitive

Posted on March 17, 2010
That’s the title of my Slaw post for today.   It reads as follows. The quality of Canadian internet access continues to decline in comparison to that of other countries.  See, for example, previous Slaw posts here and here.   This while high speed access is more increasingly considered crucial for the economy,  competitiveness and innovation – even [...

Windows Phone 7 at MIX10

Posted on March 16, 2010
Microsoft has released further details about Windows 7 Phone – mostly from the developer side – at the Mix10 conference.   It continues to get a positive reception from the tech press.   For more detail take a look at various posts such as these on Engadget and Wired Gadget Lab...

Global flow of data saps privacy rules

Posted on March 15, 2010
For the London Free Press – March 15, 2010 Read this on Canoe Canada’s privacy commissioner calls for modernized laws to address evolution of cyberspace Last month, Canada’s privacy commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, gave an address titled “The Future of Privacy Regulation” at the 11th annual Privacy and Security Conference in Victoria...

PolicyTool ? Taking Off Virally

Posted on March 12, 2010
The response to the policytool that rTraction and I collaborated on has been overwhelming.  In its first week,  over 10,000 people have visited the sites and 1500 different companies have taken the first steps in creating a social media policy.  See rTraction’s post for more details of the response...

Happy Pi day

Posted on March 12, 2010
Sunday is March 14th, or 3.14, and thus Pi day.   Take a look at piday.org , or Wikipedia for more details.

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