Blog

Legal News

How “Private” are Facebook Profiles?

I recently published a blog post on the topic of Is taking someone’s picture in public breaching their privacy? I have since received many questions pertaining to whether using or publishing someone’s Facebook profile information could be considered as breaching their privacy. Facebook users post information and pictures about themselves and their loved ones as […] Read more

News

Federal Court certifies privacy class action in the Marijuana case

It was announced yesterday that the Federal Court of Canada has certified the privacy class-action lawsuit involving 40,000 people which pertains to the medical marijuana access program. The case was launched in 2013 after Health Canada sent letters to people with the program’s name on the envelope. The envelope containing the letter explicitly identified the “Marihuana Medical Access Program” in […] Read more

Legal News

Top five mistakes when drafting website privacy policies

Many organizations remain very broad in their website privacy policies on the use made of the information collected. Recent bill S-4, the Digital Privacy Act, the federal government’s latest attempt to reform PIPEDA was proclaimed last month and proposes a revised “valid consent” provision (PIPEDA, s. 6.1), by shifting from a subjective standard to a more objective standard. To […] Read more

Events

Practical De-Identification

I will be participating at the Practical De-Identification program organized by the Future of Privacy Forum and Ernst & Young taking place in Washington on July 9th, 2015. De-identification is a critical element in many privacy programs, and is an important part in every privacy practitioner’s toolbox. However, the complex technical, legal, and policy landscape around de-identification can be […] Read more

News

Fitbit data used to self-incriminate its user

I posted a blog a few months ago about Health-tracking bracelets and privacy issues and raised the fact that health information collected by these self-tracking devices may be used as evidence in a litigation. Kashmir Hill published a piece today entitled “Fitbit data just undermined a woman’s rape claim“. Apparently, according to ABC 27, a woman handed the username and […] Read more

News

Porter Airlines agrees to pay $150,000 for alleged violations of CASL

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today announced that airline company Porter Airlines Inc. agreed to pay $150,000 as part of an undertaking for alleged violations of Canada’s anti-spam legislation (CASL). It is reported that once made aware of the investigation by the CRTC, the airline company was cooperative and immediately took corrective actions to comply […] Read more

Legal News

Guidance on how to protect personal information using adequate safeguards

My colleague Bradley Freedman published yesterday short piece entitled “Regulatory Guidance for Safeguarding Personal Information” in which he reviews the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) recently issued “Interpretation Bulletin – Safeguards” which provides non-binding guidance for compliance with statutory obligations to safeguard personal information. The Interpretation Bulletin is timely in light of […] Read more