Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article) highlights the results of an ABA/ICC global Internet jurisdiction study released over the weekend. The survey of nearly 300 companies in 45 different countries found that U.S. companies were far more concerned and pessimistic about Internet jurisdiction risk than European and Asian companies. It also found that an "Internet jurisdiction risk toolkit" is emerging where companies target low risk jurisdictions and take steps to avoid doing business in perceived high risk jurisdictions. |
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Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) examines the recent Canadian Supreme Court LSUC v. CCH copyright decision. The column argues that the case instantly ranks as one of the strongest pro-user rights decisions from any high court in the world, showing what it means to do more than pay mere lip service to balance in copyright. It then proceeds the case from four perspectives -- 1. The litigants (the Law Society emerged victorious, though not a complete loss for the publishers) 2. The interpretation of copyright law (new standards for fair dealing and for authorization as well as the articulation of users rights) 3. The broader perspective on copyright law (the need to adopt a balanced perspective) 4. The societal shift of the view of copyright (a personalization of the importance of copyright). also see: LSUC v. CCH Canadian |
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Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) examines the viability of blanket license for peer-to-peer file sharing in Canada. The column argues that Canada might provide an ideal testing ground for such an approach given the prior experience with collective licensing and the potential to develop a finely-targeted scheme that provides appropriate compensation to the music community. |
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Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) takes a closer look at Bangoura v. Washington Post, a recent Ontario case in which the court asserted jurisdiction over the Post due to the availability of an allegedly defamatory article online. The article argues that the decision takes Internet jurisdiction in the wrong direction by adopting a moving target approach. also see: Bangoura v. Washington Post |
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In response to my recent Toronto Star column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) defending PIPEDA, Canada's
privacy law, the paper today features a debate over the arguments
presented in that column. Professor Richard Owens argues that PIPEDA
"tarnishes lawmaking, impedes business unnecessarily and threatens
constitutional disorder", while I continue to defend the privacy
statute, maintaining that the historical record suggests that business
actively upported the law and the establishment of a national standard
in its current form. also see: Owens Rebuttal |
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Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) takes on the recent rise of criticism of PIPEDA Canada's federal privacy legislation, which has been recently labelled a multi-dimensional mess by critics. The column argues that replacing the single federal standard with potentially competing provincial laws would be bad for business, privacy enforcement, and relations with the European Union. The column also examines the issues at the heart of the recent Quebec challenge of the law's constitutionality. |
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Professor Geist's Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) takes a look ahead at 2004 by focusing on three of the hottest issues - privacy, copyright, and Internet marketing. With new legislation in Canada, a potential constitutional challenge, the prospect of file sharing lawsuits, and forthcoming Canadian Supreme Court decisions it will be an interesting and busy year in technology law. |
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Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) provides an A to Z look back at the year in technology law in Canada. The column focuses on leading cases, legislative developments in the spam and privacy world, and emerging copyright policy concerns. |
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Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Law Bytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) features coverage of the results of a global study jointly conducted by the ITU and myself on the role of national governments and their national domains. The study, which covered 56 countries from every global region and a broad cross-section of developed and developing countries, finds that virtually every government that responded to the survey either manages, retains direct control, or is contemplating formalizing its relationship with its ccTLD. The column concludes that the debate at next week's World Summit on the Information Society is not whether governments should be involved in Internet governance, but rather how they will be involved in the issue. |
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Professor Geist's regular Toronto Star Lawbytes column ( Toronto Star version, HTML backup article, homepage version) contrasts privacy compliance in Canada and the U.S. It argues that while Canada may have enacted comprehensive privacy legislation, there are minimal expectations that the law will be enforced aggressively. It concludes that organizations with good privacy practices as well as the public would benefit from Canada's next privacy commissioner creating the expectation that privacy practices that run afoul of the law will be punished and publicly identified. |
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