Columns

Privacy Breaches Expose Flaws in the Law

My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on the need for Canadian privacy reform in light of last week's security breaches involving CIBC and retailer giant Winners. I note that these two incidents highlight the fragility of sensitive, personal information that is entrusted to Canadian businesses as well as the inadequacy of current Canadian privacy legislation. Business groups have cautioned against privacy law reforms, yet as the risk of identity theft grows, the calls for change are likely to become more vocal.

While the U.S. pushes forward with security breach disclosure legislation, Canadian business has argued strongly against similar reforms. The Information Technology Association of Canada, which features representatives from companies such as BCE, Telus, Rogers, Microsoft, Nortel, and Research in Motion on its board of directors, warned against mandatory notification legislation in an appearance before a parliamentary committee last month.

January 22, 2007 — 3 comments — Columns

One Down, 29 to Go

Many readers will know that over the summer I launched a 30 Days of DRM series that focused on the concerns associated with DRM and anti-circumvention. Day Seven called for DRM-free library deposits. Well, one down and 29 to go – my weekly Law Bytes column (Ottawa Citizen version, homepage version, BBC international version) highlights recent changes to Canada's legal deposit regulations designed to accommodate the emergence of online publications and to address the DRM issue. Canada introduced mandatory legal deposit in 1953, requiring publishers to provide copies of all published books to the National Library of Canada. With little fanfare, the rules for legal deposit have gradually been adapted to the Internet and digital technologies. In 2004, the government granted the Library and Archives Canada, the successor the National Library, the right to sample web pages in an effort to preserve noteworthy Canadian websites. The Internet sampling provision has been used to gather copies of political party websites as well as a handful of notable blogs.

As of January 1st of this year, the rules have changed yet again as Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda introduced new regulations to accommodate the emergence of online publications and to address the concerns raised by digital technologies that potentially impede access. The latest changes will require many online-only publishers to begin submitting their publications to the LAC. The rules disappointingly stop short of requiring all publishers to submit electronic versions of paper-based documents, however. Such a requirement should be considered in the future to facilitate the creation of a national digital library.

The new rules also address mounting concern about the potential impact of DRM to deny future generations access to the publications in digital form.

January 16, 2007 — 5 comments — Columns

Policy Responses to the User-Generated Content Boom

After a two-week hiatus, my weekly Law Bytes column is back (Toronto Star version, homepage version) with some reflections on Time Magazine's selection of "You" as the person of the year. Starting from the premise that the choice may ultimately be viewed as the tipping point when the remarkable outbreak of Internet participation that encompasses millions of bloggers, music remixers, amateur video creators, citizen journalists, wikipedians, and Flickr photographers broke into the mainstream, I focus on how governments and policy makers might assess how they fit into the world of a participatory Internet and user-generated content. I argue that it can do so by focusing on the three "C’s" – connectivity, content, and copyright.

January 8, 2007 — Comments are Disabled — Columns

The Letters of the Law: The Year in Canadian Tech Law

My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) features my annual review in law and technology with a particular emphasis on Canadian developments. This past year in law and technology has been marked by a series of noteworthy developments including the explosive interest in user-generated content (culminating in […]

December 18, 2006 — Comments are Disabled — Columns

Digital Info Strategy Requires Courage Before Cash

My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) examines efforts in Canada to develop a national digital information strategy in light of a national summit on the issue held last week in Montebello, Quebec. The column notes that the good news is that many provincial governments and organizations are not waiting for Ottawa to act, citing initiatives by the Alberta and Quebec governments, Alouette Canada, Synergies, the McCord Museum, and the blossoming of user generated content.

This enormous energy suggests that digitization will flourish regardless of whether Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Industry Minister Maxime Bernier, and Canadian Heritage Minister Bev Oda adopt a formal strategy. However, despite the good news, the summit also left little doubt that there are immediate steps that can be taken to pave the way for even more.

In fact, I argue that the federal government would do well to resist introducing expensive new initiatives by first maximizing the benefits that can be extracted from the current set of policies and programs.

December 11, 2006 — 1 comment — Columns