My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) focuses on wireless number portability, which makes its much-anticipated debut on Wednesday, allowing Canadian consumers to change their cellphone provider without surrendering their current phone number. I note that while wireless number portability removes one lock that the providers have […]
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The Challenges of Digitization
The NY Times features a good review of the challenges associated with digitization.
“We Haven’t Sued Anyone”
Canadian Music Week wraps up in Toronto today. I attended on Thursday, where I participated on a DRM panel that was somewhat less than the sum of its parts (Puretracks, eMusic, SOCAN, ASCAP, Chris Castle, and myself on the panel that packed a room but never fully gelled) and attended […]
Do-Not-Call Legislation Stuck on Hold
The National Post with an update on an important initiative seemingly going nowhere.
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."