I never thought I’d ever mention Kim Kardashian in a blog post but, surprisingly, I find myself doing so in the context of a privacy breach. The “human element” in privacy violations – whether by error or omission in conduct or a willful or deliberate act – plagues organizations subject to breach notification requirements. Leaving aside […]

The last month has seen an uptick in privacy cases worthy of consideration. The latest that I’ve gotten around to perusing is Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, Local 30 v. Irving Pulp & Paper Ltd released by the Supreme Court of Canada in June. I think the case is more about arbitral precedents […]

Since the FACTA posts on this blog have generated a lot of traffic, I thought I’d pass along some information from my good friend Peter McLaughlin in Morrison Foerster’s New York office. It appears the IRS have decided to shift the implementation date for FATCA from 31 December 2013 to 1 July 2014. Not a […]

Readers may recall my post on the subject of R. v. Cole here, a Supreme Court of Canada decision about expectations of privacy in workplace laptops. That decision has been now followed in a recent BC decision and while the facts are not terribly different, it is interesting to see the further application of privacy […]

Back in 1997, Apple had an enormously successful ad campaign with the signature phrase “think different”.  You can see it here. A recent British Columbia decision illustrates the fact that Canada’s provinces do “think different” from time to time with respect to the shape of the common law, in this instance with respect to a common law […]

I recently came across a calculator while reading a Financial Times article (registration required) on the surveillance of consumers. It shows just how much marketers value our personal data – apparently it’s just pennies and we don’t even have those in Canada anymore. This 2010 Forbes article talks about the monetization of  personal data and […]

This post first appeared at Privacy Perspectives on 15 May 2013.  As Canadian privacy professionals will know, 2012 saw a significant development in Canadian tort law with respect to privacy. While some lower courts have recognized an “invasion of privacy” tort or said there might be one, higher courts refused to countenance the existence of such […]

I’ve written about FATCA before, here and here, with respect to the privacy law implications of this American tax compliance initiative. However, I was recently presented with a letter on the subject that made me pause.  A noted Canadian constitutional law expert has raised a rather interesting aspect and it seems what may get Canadian […]

When one considers the subject of privacy audits, the first impulse is to ask about the purpose and scope of the audit,  followed by a question as to what privacy controls are in play. While purpose and scope can be more readily defined, privacy controls are not a topic one sees addressed very much and […]

Since the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) decision in R. v. Cole was issued in October 2012, I’ve seen press reports, blog posts and law firm newsletter articles talk about the existence of computer-related expectations of privacy in an employment context. This is somewhat contrary to the conventional wisdom that employers, with notice and through […]