The National Post with an update on an important initiative seemingly going nowhere.
Archive for March, 2007
Canada.com and Email Privacy
Several people have written over the past couple of weeks to call attention to the privacy implications of the Canada.com FAQ. The FAQ asks the question about where Canada.com email account information will be stored with the answer that:
canada.com e-mail (the "Service") is provided by Velocity Services, Inc. ("VSI"), a company located in and conducting its business from the United States. By registering for and/or logging on to the Service, you accept and acknowledge that the information processed or stored outside of Canada may be available to the foreign government of the country in which the information or the entity controlling it, is situated under a lawful order made in that jurisdiction and no longer falls under the jurisdiction of Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") nor be subject to canada.com's Privacy Statement.
As David Fraser rightly notes "I'm pretty confident that you can't wave a magic wand and say that PIPEDA no longer applies."
Operation Spamalot
The SEC yesterday stopped trading in 35 companies that had been the target of regular spam touting campaigns. Paul Kedrosky notes that eight of the companies have a Canadian connection.
Signing vs. Ratifying
With the Canadian media continuing to cover the U.S. interest in Canadian copyright law (CBC, National Post) and the Globe publishing a pair of notable responses to yesterday's Ibbitson column (CMCC members, MP Charlie Angus), it is worth expanding on one issue that I flagged in my response to the Ibbitson piece. I commented that he had incorrectly equated signing a treaty (which represents only a supportive gesture) vs. ratifying a treaty (which creates new legal obligations). Howard Knopf neatly characterized it as the difference between dating and marriage.
It should be noted that many countries sign but do not ratify treaties.
The Tyee on Project Cleanfeed
Project Cleanfeed is now up and running and the Tyee does a nice job of canvassing the issues.
Recent Posts
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 200: Colin Bennett on the EU’s Surprising Adequacy Finding on Canadian Privacy Law 
Debating the Online Harms Act: Insights from Two Recent Panels on Bill C-63 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 199: Boris Bytensky on the Criminal Code Reforms in the Online Harms Act 
AI Spending is Not an AI Strategy: Why the Government’s Artificial Intelligence Plan Avoids the Hard Governance Questions 
The Law Bytes Podcast, Episode 198: Richard Moon on the Return of the Section 13 Hate Speech Provision in the Online Harms Act
