Stockwell Day, Canada’s new minister of public security, has raised the prospect of creating a national ID card. Again. This issue was a pet project of former Liberal Minister Denis Coderre, who pushed for a national ID card that would be expensive, provide little additional security, create new privacy risks, and would remove rights to remain anonymous.
Blog
Internet Gambling Advertising Bill Introduced in Ontario
Thanks to John Gregory for pointing out that a private member’s bill was introduced yesterday into the Ontario legislature that seeks to prohibit advertising of unregulated Internet gambling. If enacted, the Bill C-60 would amend the Consumer Protection Act by adding the following provision:
"No person shall print, publish, distribute, broadcast or telecast an advertisement or representation that includes an Internet gaming business website address unless the person believes in good faith that the Internet gaming business has been licensed or otherwise granted permission to operate in Ontario or Canada by the appropriate authority and is operated in accordance with the applicable laws of Ontario and Canada."
Supreme Court Denies Leave in Bangoura Case
The Bangoura case, the much-discussed Canadian Internet jurisdiction case, has come to a close as the Supreme Court of Canada today denied Bangoura’s request for leave to appeal the Ontario Court of Appeal decision. Still working its way through the courts is the appeal of the Burke v. NewYork Post […]
The Sony Rootkit Effect
While the blogosphere is understandably focused on the revelation that the RIAA now says that "creating a back-up copy of a music CD is not a non-infringing use" (after telling the U.S. Supreme Court in the Grokster hearing that "it's perfectly lawful to take a CD that you've purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod."), I think two other stories out today merit attention.
The Slippery Slope of Two-Tier Email
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, BBC Version, webpage version) examines America Online and Yahoo!’ s recent announcement of a new fee-based system for commercial email. I argue that certified email will do little to address spam and may not attract a large client base. Rather, its more significant impact lies in the fact that it is yet another step toward the two-tiered Internet that will ultimately shift new costs to consumers.
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
