2014

News

Making money with serial killers: law and ethics

I was interviewed today by Global News regarding a well-known online U.S. retailer selling an adult movie starring accused murderer Luka Rocco Magnotta. Magnotta is currently facing charges of first-degree murder, committing an indignity to human remains, publishing obscene material, distributing indecent material through the mail and harassing Prime Minister Stephen Harper and other members […] Read more

News

Telus: More Transparency from Telcos

In response to concerns about widespread Internet surveillance by police and law enforcement agencies, Telus Corp released yesterday its 2013 transparency report which reveals that it has received more than 100,000 requests for customer data from the government and law enforcement agencies in 2013. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada issued a Statement in April […] Read more

News

An officer and a porn movie

A Montreal female police officer Stefanie Trudeau also known as Matricule 728 (or Agent number 728), earned infamy during the Quebec 2012 student protests. She was also caught on video (which went viral), violently arresting a man drinking beer outside his apartment for which she is currently facing one count of assault. AD4 Distribution Canada, […] Read more

News

Mobile apps and privacy challenges

The WSP reports that most mobile apps don’t respect users’ privacy. The Global Privacy Enforcement Network (GPEN) undertook last May a second privacy sweep demonstrating the ongoing commitment of privacy enforcement authorities to work together to promote privacy protection around the world. It is reported that some 26 privacy enforcement authorities in 19 countries participated […] Read more

Legal News

Is behavioral advertising harmful?

The Economist published a great piece on behavioral advertising : “Getting to know you: Everything people do online is avidly followed by advertisers and third-party trackers”. I blogged yesterday about the fact that the article raises an interesting point: industry players often take the position that since they do not know the users’ names, what they are collecting […] Read more

Legal News

Should behavioral advertising profiles qualify as “personal information”?

The Economist published a great piece on behavioral advertising today: “Getting to know you: Everything people do online is avidly followed by advertisers and third-party trackers”. The article discusses the fact that gathering information about users and grouping them into sellable “segments” has become important for the $120 billion online advertising economy. The article raises an […] Read more