MICHAEL GEIST
Thursday, January 13, 2000
Continuing growth of the Internet and E-commerce ensures that Canadian cyberlaw issues are certain to take centre stage in the coming year. In fact, many observers expect 2000 to be a watershed year. While future Internet developments are rarely predictable, current trends suggest that the following issues will lead the way:
Canada's E-commerce legal framework will move from policy to law:
Important policies for E-commerce, consumer protection and cryptography have been established, but not yet widely enacted. This year we should see these policies become law.
Last month, Saskatchewan became the first province to introduce E-commerce legislation based on an international standard. Many provinces are expected to follow suit, thereby providing Canada with a harmonized E-commerce legal framework.
Consumer-protection policy sits at the same place, in that the policy framework is in place while the actual legislation depends upon the provinces. While voluntary consumer-protection guidelines announced last November are useful, provincial legislation would provide consumers with more effective protection.
Notwithstanding parliamentary wrangling, Bill C-6 should be passed in some form this year. Passage would provide Canada with the private sector privacy protections it needs for widespread acceptance of E-commerce, but it will take several years for the full effect of the law to be felt.
The growing use of digital signatures is likely to accelerate in the coming year. Look for a government initiative that relies on a market-led, standards-based approach.
Canadian domain name governance will take centre stage
Many observers expected rapid development of Canadian domain name administration last year. The relative inaccessibility of dot-ca domain names has severely slowed the development of E-commerce.
Unfortunately, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority made little progress in 1999. Leadership changes at CIRA should lead to renewed activity with a complete transformation of the dot-ca registration process by mid-year.
The ramifications of the CRTC's hands-off approach to the Internet will be severely tested
Upstart Webcaster iCraveTV.com provides real-time television broadcasts on the Web -- exactly the kind of broadcasts that the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission suggested in its 1999 new media report were years away.
This illustrates the growing tension between the Web's capabilities and the limitations of a legal framework that never contemplated Internet broadcasting. With iCraveTV.com the subject of numerous legal threats from broadcasters in North America, a showdown seems inevitable.
Canadian courts will see a significant increase in the number of Internet cases
Canada has typically lagged two years behind the United States in the development of cyberlaw. This places us at the cusp of huge growth in the area.
By year-end, expect to see a wide range of decisions on Internet law, from crime to libel, creating the potential for conflicting legal approaches in different provinces.
Internet jurisdiction will be the subject of several key decisions
Underlying just about every cyberlaw case is the thorny question of whether or not a court or regulator is entitled to assert its jurisdiction.
Braintech Inc., the loser in a B.C. Court of Appeal decision that provided Canada with its first major Internet jurisdiction decision last spring, is currently seeking leave to have its case heard before the Supreme Court. Should leave be granted, Canada's highest court will hear its first major Internet law case later this year.
Last fall, the Alberta Securities Commission conducted hearings on alleged securities violations involving an on-line stock exchange operated by several Alberta residents from the Caribbean. The decision, expected soon, will provide helpful guidance on the on-line reach of securities regulators.
Michael Geist is a law professor at the University of Ottawa School of Law specializing in Internet and electronic-commerce law. He can be reached at mgeist@uottawa.ca and on the Web at http://www.lawbytes.com
