The Ontario Divisional Court released a unanimous decision today that will protect the anonymity of online speakers. The court held that before the identity of anonymous online users accused of defamation can be revealed, the plaintiff must convince the court there is an adequate basis for ordering such disclosure. This overturns a lower court's decision that identities must be disclosed automatically.
CIPPIC submitted comments in response to a consultation process being held by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada on "Cloud Computing." The submission takes a general look at the technology and the privacy challenges inherent to most cloud applications.
The participants in the PublicACTA Conference in New Zealand on 10 April, 2010, have crafted the Wellington Declaration - a public statement to the parties negotiating the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) for their consideration during the Wellington round of negotiations. Add your name to the growing list of signatories calling for greater transparency, rational intellectual property laws, and respect for sovereignty and democratically-crafted laws.
The Memorial University of Newfoundland Faculty Association (MUNFA) has officially added its name to the Fair is Fair coalition in calling on Ministers Clement and Moore to provide Canadians with more flexible fair dealing in copyright law. If you wish to add your organization, contact the Fair is Fair coalition.
CIPPIC appeared before the Ontario Divisional Court today to advocate for privacy protections in civil litigation processes. CIPPIC joined the Canadian Civil Liberties Association in intervening in Warman v. Wilkins-Fournier and in asking the Court to ensure reasonable safeguards are in place to prevent anonymous online identities from being revealed too readily.
The Association for Media Literacy (AML) (Ontario), the Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC)/Conseil des Biblothèques Urbaines du Canada and the University of New Brunswick have added their names to the growing list of organizations who have joined the Fair is Fair Coalition and signed on to an open letter to Ministers Clement and Moore, calling for more flexible fair dealing in the Canadian Copyright Act. If you wish to add your organizations name, contact the Fair is Fair coalition.
CIPPIC has joined with a collection of over two dozen organizations representing creators, innovators, educators, scholars, students and consumers who today called on the government of Canada to fix fair dealing, copyright law’s cardinal user right. As the law stands now, many dealings that are fair, such as parody and time-shifting (recording shows to watch later) do not squarely qualify for the defense. The group asks that the government drop restrictions on categories of dealings that qualify for fair dealing, saying that any fair treatment of content should qualify for fair dealing. After all, what's fair is fair, and should be legal, too.
Yesterday, Madame Justice Aitken of the the Ontario Divisional Court approved CIPPIC's motion seeking leave to intervene in Warman v. Fournier, an appeal which will address important issues surrounding the role of online anonymity in the discovery process. CIPPIC will argue that, by ordering the disclosure of identifying documents, the ruling being appealed failed to provide adequate safeguards for user privacy. The appeal will be heard Wednesday, April 8, 2010.
CIPPIC has added its name to the growing list of experts and civil society groups signing the Madrid Privacy Declaration, reaffirming a global commitment to privacy, both as a value and a human right.
The CRTC has turned down CAIP's application to vary the CRTC's decision in CAIP v. Bell, finding no substantial doubt about (1) the correctness of its determinations that Bell's throttling of wholesale customer traffic does not control the content or influence the meaning or purpose of telecommunications it carries, (2) the completeness of the record used to make that decision, or (3) whether or not Commission fettered its discretion. The Commission declined to review other elements of the application to review and vary on the grounds that Bell's traffic management practices would now be subject to the new analytic framework and tariff requirements set out in Telecom Regulatory Policy 2009-657.
CIPPIC joined other privacy advocates across Canada in a joint submission promoting respect for privacy interests that will be affected by proposed changes to copyright law.
Today, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada released its finding on CIPPIC’s privacy complaint against Abika.com, a US databroker. The Privacy Commissioner found that the complaint was well-founded, and called on Abika to stop collecting personal information of Canadians without their informed consent. The is significant in that it involved an appeal by CIPPIC to the Federal Court to establish that the Privacy Commissioner had jurisdiction to investigate complaints relating to transborder flows of personal information. Additionally, it led to a cooperative investigation between the Privacy Commissioner and the US Federal Trade Commission into the practices of Abika.
• Report of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada’s Findings against Abika
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner announced yesterday that it would release its finding on CIPPIC's PIPEDA complaint against Facebook today. The finding will be released today at 9 am, and will be followed by an OPC press conference at 11 am.
CIPPIC has received a large donation from UCal Berkeley Professor Pamela Samuelson and technology innovator, entrepreneur and professor Dr. Robert Glushko, allowing the clinic to continue its student-centered public interest advocacy work on law and policy issues arising from the use of new technologies. With this generous donation, CIPPIC joins the growing network of Samuelson-Glushko cyberlaw clinics in universities across North America.
Samuelson Law, Technology and Public Policy Clinic, University of California, Berkeley
Glushko-Samuelson Intellectual Property Law Clinic, Washington College of Law
University of Colorado Technology and Policy Clinic
Fordham Law School Intellectual Property and Information Law Clinic