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.
Post Tagged with: "security"
The Risks and Rewards of Data Retention
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, freely available version, BBC version) examines the U.S. Department of Justice’s demand for search data from the world’s leading search engines. I argue that while much of the focus has been on the privacy implications of the USDOJ request, the story highlights […]
Canada’s Privacy Wake-Up Call
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, freely available version) focuses on the recent Maclean’s cover story in which a reporter obtained the personal phone records of Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart. I argue that in a year dominated by almost daily privacy and security violations that have placed the […]
The Lasting Impact of Sony’s Rootkit
My weekly Law Bytes column (Toronto Star version, freely available version, update: the BBC features an internationalized version) examines the controversy surrounding the Sony rootkit and its use of digital rights management. While in the short-term one of the world's best-known brands has suffered enormous damage, the longer-term implications are […]
The Lawful Access Spin
As expected, the government today unveiled Bill C-74, the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act, better known as lawful access. Since I’ m Tunis, I’m relying on the various releases from PSEPC, the Ministry responsible for the bill. I’ll update this posting as needed once I’ ve had a chance to […]






