Wiertz Sebastien - Privacy by Sebastien Wiertz (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ahk6nh

Wiertz Sebastien - Privacy by Sebastien Wiertz (CC BY 2.0) https://flic.kr/p/ahk6nh

Privacy

Del Mastro Targets Online Anonymity

Conservative MP Dean Del Mastro has raised the prospect of government regulation of online anonymity, arguing that Parliament should address the issue of forcing people to identify themselves before posting comments online.

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October 26, 2012 10 comments News

Supreme Court To Hear Case Challenging Constitutionality of Privacy Law

The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday granted leave for what could be the most important privacy case in years as it addresses “whether the Personal Information Protection Act [Alberta’s private sector privacy law] is contrary to s.2(b) of the Charter and if so, whether it constitutes a reasonable limit in […]

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October 26, 2012 1 comment News

Google Faces Canadian Gmail Lawsuit Over Email Scanning

A B.C. man has filed a lawsuit against Google over the scanning of emails sent to Gmail users. Similar lawsuits have been filed in the U.S., though experts are skeptical about whether automated scanning amounts to a privacy violation.

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October 9, 2012 5 comments News

Two Canadian Universities Hit By Security Breaches

Slaw and the NY Times report that two Canadian universities – UBC and McMaster University – have been hit by security breaches with student records and other data posted online.

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October 9, 2012 Comments are Disabled News

Privacy Commissioner Should Disclose the Identities of Privacy “Leakers”

Last week, Privacy Commissioner of Canada Jennifer Stoddart released the results of a disturbing new study conducted by her office that found many leading websites “leaking” personal information. My weekly technology law column (Toronto Star version, homepage version) notes the study, which came on the heels of similar findings by researchers in the United States, found that one in every four websites examined suffered from privacy leaks that included disclosing names, email addresses, postal codes, and location data to third party advertisers (in the interests of full disclosure, I am a member of the Stoddart’s external advisory board).

The study only covered 25 of the most popular e-commerce and media websites in Canada, suggesting that many more organizations may be violating Canadian privacy law by failing to adequately safeguard the personal information they collect and providing users with insufficient information about how their data is used and disclosed.

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October 3, 2012 8 comments Columns