Archive for July 25th, 2005

LaForest Appointed To Review Info and Privacy Offices

Former Supreme Court justice Gerard Vincent LaForest was appointed today to study the prospect of combining the Information Commissioner and the Privacy Commissioner into a single office. Although that approach is used in many provinces, given the frustration experienced by the Information Commissioner in obtaining compliance (and an extension in […]

July 25, 2005 — Comments are Disabled — News

SCC Private Copying Leave Decision on Thursday

The Supreme Court of Canada today announced that it will release its leave to appeal decision in the private copying case on Thursday morning. The case generated significant attention last December when the Federal Court of Appeal upheld the legality of the private copying system but struck down its application […]

July 25, 2005 — 1 comment — News

Statistics Canada on the Canadian Movie Business

This morning Statistics Canada released interesting data on the Canadian movie distribution business. The data confirms what is likely obvious to most people: the industry has never done better despite the fact that movie attendance is experiencing a sharp decline. The reason of course is the emergence of the DVD […]

July 25, 2005 — 1 comment — News

Canada Post Commits to Continue Library Program

Last week I blogged about a dispute over whether Canada Post would continue a 66-year old program that offer libraries greatly reduced pricing for inter-library loans. I wondered aloud why the government does not recognize the opportunity for the Internet to facilitate similar low cost distribution. The real space issue […]

July 25, 2005 — Comments are Disabled — News

Building a Privacy Culture from the Ground Up

My weekly Law Bytes column (freely available hyperlinked version, Toronto Star version) examines last week’s Privacy Commissioner of Canada finding on secondary marketing. The Commissioner ruled that the inclusion of marketing materials in banking statements constitutes "secondary marketing" and that consumers should be entitled to opt-out of receiving it. I […]

July 25, 2005 — Comments are Disabled — Columns