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Tuesday February 19, 2013 |
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Hollywood crime dramas are infamous for the
scene when an
accused is taken to a local police station and permitted a single
phone call to
contact a relative or lawyer. While the storyline is myth - there
is no limit
on the number of phone calls available to an accused or detainee -
a recent Alberta
case established a new, real requirement for law
enforcement. After a 19-year
old struggled to find a lawyer using the telephone, the court
ruled that police
must provide an accused with Internet access in order to exercise
their right
to counsel.
Christopher McKay, who faced a driving while
under the
influence charge, told police that he wanted to exercise his right
to legal
counsel. McKay’s cellphone and other personal belongings were
placed in a
police locker when he arrived at the station. McKay was told there
was a
toll-free number available to contact a lawyer as well as White
and Yellow
pages that could be consulted. He called the toll-free number but
was unable to
find assistance.
My weekly technology law column (Toronto
Star version, homepage
version) notes that what followed was the product of a
demographic deeply
familiar Hollywood movies and reliant on the Internet. McKay
assumed that he
had used his single phone call and did not consider using
directory assistance
(411), which he did not think was a "viable search engine."
Instead, he noted
that Google was his main method to search for information.
charter, google, right to counsel Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareTuesday February 19, 2013 |
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Friday October 26, 2012 |
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The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday granted
leave for what could be the most important privacy case in
years as it addresses "whether the Personal Information Protection
Act [Alberta's private sector privacy law] is contrary to
s.2(b) of the Charter and if so, whether it constitutes a
reasonable limit in a free and democratic society."
charter, constitution, privacy, scc Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareFriday October 26, 2012 |
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Wednesday September 02, 2009 |
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The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal has ruled that the Internet hate provision found in the Human Rights Act is unconstitutional. In a decision released today, the Tribunal ruled that the restriction on speech imposed by the provision is not a reasonable limit under Section 1 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. charter, constitution, hate speech, human rights, lemire, warman Slashdot, Digg, Del.icio.us, Newsfeeder, Reddit, StumbleUpon, TwitterTagsShareWednesday September 02, 2009 |
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