2014
News
Canadian Telcos can’t collect SINs and drivers licence numbers
Éloïse Gratton October 29, 2014
A decision was recently issued by the Quebec Commission d’Accès à l’information (“CAI”) pursuant to the Act respecting the protection of personal information in the private sector following (“Quebec Private Sector Act”) following a complaint filed against Rogers Communications (“Telco”) pertaining to the collection of personal information. In X. c. Rogers Communications Inc., the plaintiff’s social insurance […] Read more
Events
Les Affaires – Email marketing conference
Éloïse Gratton October 28, 2014
I will be participating at the email marketing conference organized by Les Affaires entitled “Email marketing à l’ère de la loi C-28” together with my colleague Elisa Henry. This two day event is taking place at the Sheraton, Montreal, on November 11 and 12, 2014. Elisa Henry will provide a workshop on the new anti-spam […] Read more
News
Ghomeshi: not just an employee, also a public figure
Éloïse Gratton October 27, 2014
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (“CBC”) fired Jian Ghomeshi after receiving certain information precluding CBC from continuing to employ him. Ghomeshi then turned to his personal Facebook page to issue a statement claiming he was fired due to fears of a scandal resulting from his sexual behaviour. He also claims that his private life is nobody’s business and […] Read more
News
Dynamic pricing on websites: illegal or unfair?
Éloïse Gratton October 26, 2014
Elizabeth Dwoskin from the WSJ recently published an interesting piece on dynamic pricing (or discriminatory pricing) entitled “Why You Can’t Trust You’re Getting the Best Deal Online“. The article refers to a new study of top e-commerce websites which concluded that these practices are more widespread than expected: the study tracked searches on 16 popular […] Read more
Legal News Publications
What is sensitive information?
Éloïse Gratton October 24, 2014
Paul Ohm, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Colorado Law School, recently published an interesting article on “Sensitive Information”. He explains how every data protection law provides special protection for certain categories of “sensitive information,” such as health, sex, or financial information and how the concept of sensitive information is undertheorized. […] Read more
Legal News
More on cyber issues and pornography
Éloïse Gratton October 20, 2014
Every day, I read a newspaper or online article about a revenge porn incident, or about another country considering new legislation to address the issues of cyber-pornography and/or revenge porn. For instance, today, there was an article in a U.K. newspaper about revenge porn victim Hannah Thompson. She is demanding helpline to kill explicit online pictures […] Read more
News
Using fake Facebook profiles in investigations
Éloïse Gratton October 19, 2014
Facebook, in its terms of use, requests that users be truthful on Facebook: “You will not provide any false personal information on Facebook, or create an account for anyone other than yourself without permission” (section 4). Given that most profiles may contain valuable information useful for any investigation, more and more we are seeing fake profiles […] Read more
News
Drama teacher fired over vintage 60s erotic movies
Éloïse Gratton October 18, 2014
A drama teacher from a Montreal prestigious high school was recently fired over having participated in erotic movies… almost 50 years ago! The students of the school noticed European movies on the Internet in which she had appeared nude. The 73 year old teacher has been working at that school (contract worker) for 15 years, and claims […] Read more
News
Defamation on social media during election campaign: Rankin decision
Éloïse Gratton October 17, 2014
In Rankin c. Rankin, 2014 QCCQ 8981, which came out a few days ago, a plaintiff was awarded $10,000 in compensatory damages and $3,000 in punitive damages, after defamatory comments were made about him on Facebook and in public in the context of an election campaign. The plaintiff and the defendant are cousins and both members of the Algonquin community Abitibiwinni. Several […] Read more
Legal News
More on Digital Market Manipulation
Éloïse Gratton October 13, 2014
For those who, like me, found Law Professor Ryan Calo‘s “Digital Market Manipulation” article absolutely interesting and fascinating, will be delighted to know that there is a new publication on this topic. Law Professor David C. Vladeck just published a piece entitled: “Digital Marketing, Consumer Protection, and the First Amendment: A Brief Reply to Professor Ryan Calo“. […] Read more