Appeared in the Toronto Star on March 30, 2009 as Anti-counterfeiting Treaty Talks Heat Up Next week, the Department of Foreign Affairs will conduct one of the stranger consultations in recent memory. Officials have invited roughly 70 stakeholder groups to discuss an international intellectual property treaty that the U.S. regards […]
Articles by: Michael Geist
European Parliament Rejects Three Strikes and You’re Out Approach
Days after New Zealand dropped its support for the "three strikes and you're out" approach (also known as "graduated response") that would see ISPs terminate subscribers on the basis of three unproven allegations of copyright infringement, the European Parliament has similarly rejected the proposed approach. Le Quadrature du Net reports […]
Role Reversal on TV Tax Debate
Yesterday I attended the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage hearing into the television industry in Canada and its impact on local communities. The hearing featured MPs from all parties taking CRTC Chair Konrad von Finckenstein to task for not doing enough to save local television broadcasting. Von Finckenstein rightly noted […]
Ontario Court Orders Website To Disclose Identity of Anonymous Posters
An Ontario court has ordered the owners of the FreeDominion.ca to disclose all personal information on eight anonymous posters to the chat site. The required information includes email and IP addresses. The case arises from a lawsuit launched by Richard Warman, the anti-hate fighter, against the site and the posters. The court focused heavily on the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, which contain a strong duty of disclosure on litigants.
The discussion includes a review of many key Internet privacy cases, including the CRIA file sharing litigation (which the court distinguishes on the basis of different court rules) and the Irwin Toy case (which emphasized the importance of protecting anonymity, but which the court tries to distinguish on the basis of the newness of the issue at the time). The court also looks at the string of recent cases involving child pornography cases and ISP disclosure of customer information, concluding that "the court's most recent pronouncement on this is that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy."
RCMP Seeks Backdoor Wiretap Access to Blackberry Messaging
CBC reports this evening that the RCMP is seeking backdoor wiretap access to Blackberry devices. The law enforcement agency is concerned that email messaging with the Blackberry is secure and encrypted which raises fears that it is widely used by criminal elements. Liberal MP Marlene Jennings touts her lawful access […]
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