News

Deadline to apply March 27th, 2026

The Supreme Court of Canada has granted the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) leave to intervene in Facebook Inc. v. Privacy Commissioner of Canada (SCC File No. 41538)

CIPPIC has participated in the Government of Canada’s open consultation on the operation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA)

CIPPIC has filed its Memorandum of Fact and Law with the Federal Court in Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) v Sahni. CIPPIC is asking the Federal Court to expunge or rectify a copyright registration that holds out an AI system as an author under Canadian copyright law.

The July 31 application deadline for a CIPPIC fall academic internship term (CML3316F) approaches! Fall files include copyright and AI, privacy and consent, and access to information.

CIPPIC has filed its Intervener Memorandum of Fact and Law in the Federal Court of Appeal.

CIPPIC is excited to announce a renewed focus on its open government work through its new Open Information Initiative.

In September, CIPPIC participated in the Office of the Privacy Commissioner's exploratory consultation on privacy and age assurance. The submission questions whether age assurance systems can effectively determine a user's age without breaching privacy rights. It also proposes a tool designed to assess whether an age assurance system is truly privacy preserving.

The Supreme Court has denied leave to hear the appeal in Voltage v Doe #1, a case in which CIPPIC has played a central role. The case raised questions about the burden of proof borne by copyright owners and the nature of the duties copyright’s authorization right imposes on internet subscribers.

CIPPIC has been granted leave to be added as a party before the Supreme Court in the leave to appeal of Voltage v Doe #1.

In January, CIPPIC participated in the government consultation on Copyright in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence. The report provides the context in which each of these issues arise under the current Canadian copyright regime and summarizes CIPPIC’s stance on the inquiries posed by the consultation.

In a 2-1 decision, the Federal Court of Appeal has affirmed a lower court decision that found that Google Search did not qualify for an exception to PIPEDA for the collection, use, or disclosure of personal information for journalistic, artistic, or literary purposes.

The Federal Court, for a second time, has denied Voltage permission to proceed in its class lawsuit for file-sharing.

In R. v. Downes, 2023 SCC 6, CIPPIC intervened before the Supreme Court of Canada in a case about the meaning of the criminal offence of voyeurism under section 162(1)(a) of the Criminal Code.

CIPPIC has filed its Responding Memorandum of Fact and Law with the Federal Court of Appeal in Voltage v Doe.

CIPPIC has filed its intervener factum in the Supreme Court in York University v Access Copyright, SCC No, 39222

In a report released today, CIPPIC documents the rapid adoption of facial recognition technologies at borders while outlining its intrusive potential and propensity for being repurposed.

CIPPIC was granted leave to intervene before the Federal Court of Appeal in Teksavvy Solutions Inc v Bell Media Inc, FCA File No A-440-19

CIPPIC today submitted comments to the Office of the Privacy Commissioner regarding two of its proposals for reforming PIPEDA to deal with the challenges posed by artificial intelligence.

Justice Boswell of the Federal Court of Canada has denied Voltage’s motion to certify a “reverse” class proceeding for copyright infringement against a class of unidentified internet subscribers and alleged BitTorrent users.

On Friday, March 29, CIPPIC will appear as an intervener before the Supreme Court of Canada in the hearing of Keatley Surveying Ltd. v. Teranet Inc., SCC Case No. 37863.

How do we measure bicycle traffic in a way that respects citizens' privacy? CIPPIC's team working on a Sidewalk Labs Small Grant presented its findings today.

CIPPIC has filed its intervener factum in the Supreme Court in Telus v Wellman

The CRTC released Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2013-271 today, its decision in a proceeding which set out to establish a new Code to protect consumers of wireless services.

Charlie Angus and Jasbit Sandhu, the NDP Ethics, Privacy and Digital Issues Spokesman and Public Safety Critic, respectively, in a letter to Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews, are calling for careful scrutiny of a legislative proposal that threatens to create a "digital panopticon" where online citizen actions can be tracked at rates unprecedented in Canada.

CIPPIC critically examines the Ottawa Open Data License with a view to recommending options for improving the ability of the license to meet the needs of the user community who will benefit from the license.

In response to Facebook's recent attempts to meet privacy concerns on its site, CIPPIC has sent Facebook a letter informing it that the changes it proposes are not adequate to meeting requirements of Canada's Privacy legislation.

On Tuesday, October 13, 2009, UOttawa's Centre for Law, Technology & Society will be presenting William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel for Google.

CIPPIC has provided the House of Commons Standing Committee on Industry, Science and Technology with a submission with respect to its study into Canadian science and technology.

CIPPIC has received a grant of $50,000 from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to research online privacy threats.

A number of consumer and privacy groups in the USA are calling for stronger protections against unwanted tracking of their online activities by online marketers.

The Law Foundation has once again funded an articling position for CIPPIC, during the 2007-2008 year, under its Public Interest Articling Fellowships Program.

With the defeat of the Liberal government on a confidence motion, the pending business of the House - including Bill C-60, an Act to Amend the Copyright Act, and Bill C-74, the Modernization of Investigative Techniques Act, - is now history.

The Federal Trade Commission today released a Report on peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing, concluding that the technology offers significant benefits but also poses risks.

On November 3, 2004, CIPPIC Associate Alex Cameron presented a brief to the Senate Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology on Bill S-9, proposed amendments to the Copyright Act that would give photographers first ownership of copyright in the photographs they take.

On May 12, 2004 the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, chaired by Sarmite D. Bulte, M.P. released an interim report listing a number of recommended reforms to Canadian copyright law.

The Ontario government has introduced a bill governing the collection, use and disclosure of personal health information in that province.

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The Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) has applied to the Competition Tribunal to bring a case against Apple Canada Inc. and Apple Inc

Upper-year J.D. and graduate students in law at the University of Ottawa can intern at CIPPIC in any of the three academic terms for credit (3 credits/term).

CIPPIC has been granted leave to intervene in Privacy Commissioner of Canada v. Aylo

The Federal Court of Appeal delivered a decisive victory for Internet subscribers yesterday, shutting down Voltage Holdings’ attempt to launch a “reverse class proceeding” against hundreds of Canadians for alleged movie sharing.

CIPPIC Director Matt Malone and Canadian Cyber in Context's Alex Rudolph publish a report on authorizations that allow CSE to engage in otherwise prohibited conduct.

CIPPIC submitted an intervention on behalf of OpenMedia to advocate for enhanced transparency and fairness in Canada’s telecom market.

CIPPIC has been granted leave to intervene in the Federal Court of Appeal case Blacklock’s Reporter v. Attorney General of Canada (Docket: A-267-24). This case addresses the balance between copyright enforcement and user rights. CIPPIC's intervention will focus on the interplay between fair dealing and the anti-circumvention provisions of the Copyright Act.

CIPPIC has filed an application in the Federal Court to expunge or rectify a copyright registration that holds out an artificial intelligence ("AI") program as an author under Canadian copyright law.

The Federal Court of Canada has ruled that the anti-circumvention provisions of the Copyright Act do not apply to restrain fair dealing; using a validly obtained password to access content for the purposes of fair dealing is permissible.

Following CIPPIC’s successful application to be added as a party in Voltage v Doe#1, SCC No, 41026, CIPPIC has now filed its responding argument on the motion for leave.

CIPPIC is marking the start of Fair Dealing week with the launch of its new look website!

CIPPIC has enjoyed success in its intervention in the appeal of a denial of default judgement in a file-sharing case: Voltage Holdings LL.C. v Doe #1, 2023 FCA 194.

CIPPIC is pleased to announce the publication of two reports today that raise concerns with Bill C-27, the federal government’s legislative proposal to reform Canada’s private sector privacy laws.

CIPPIC today released a report highlighting several additional problems with the federal government’s proposed Online News Act, which seeks to extract money from large online companies like Google and Facebook to help fund Canadian journalism.

CIPPIC's submission to the Government of Canada consultation on Copyright and Artificial Intelligence and IoT offers a set of cautious and balanced recommendations for maintaining Canada's copyright framework in the face of new technologies.

CIPPIC’s submission The Public's Domain to the government consultation on copyright term extension places the public domain at the heart of Canada’s copyright system.

CIPPIC and the Harvard Cyberlaw Clinic are excited to release a report today on the impact of the new United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on intermediary liability laws in North America.

The Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Uber Technologies Inc. v. Heller, 2020 SCC 16, promises to improve the fairness of standard form contracts and promote access to justice for Canadians.

Justice Boswell of the Federal Court of Canada has denied Voltage’s motion to certify a “reverse” class proceeding for copyright infringement against a class of unidentified internet subscribers and alleged BitTorrent users.

The Federal Court of Canada has set Rogers' "reasonable costs" of compliance with a Norwich Order in Voltage's reverse class proceeding. 

The Supreme Court of Canada today its decision in R v Jarvis, a voyeurism case where a high school teacher used a pen cam to surreptitiously record multiple videos focused mainly of the chest and cleavage area of several female students and one female colleague.

The CRTC rejected a proposal for a mechanism that could be used to block websites accused of copyright infringement, in a definitive victory for digital innovation and free expression in Canada.

The CRTC issued Broadcasting Decision CRTC 2013-310 today, in which it approved the merger of Canada's largest and most heavily integrated communications company (Bell) and Canada's last significant independent (and non-integrated) broadcaster (Astral).

Since April of 2005, CIPPIC has been an active member of the Anti-Spyware Coalition, a coalition of consumer interest advocates anti-spyware companies working together to address the problem of controlling spyware and other potentially unwanted technologies.

CIPPIC has provided comments on a draft Privacy Commissioner document intended to address emerging privacy issues such as online tracking, identity management and cloud computing.

In 2010, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada initiated consultations on privacy issues related to developing internet-related technologies: "Tracking, Profiling and Targeting", and "Cloud Computing".

The Privacy Commissioner of Canada joined a group of data protection commissioners from across the world today in calling on Google to put in place processes to safeguard privacy rights in launches of future products.

Today, the Privacy Commissioner issued its response to CIPPIC’s privacy complaint against Bell’s use of deep packet inspection equipment for the purpose of traffic management.

The Canadian government is expected to introduce copyright legislation modeled on the controversial American Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

The Canadian government passed legislation in 2005 mandating the creation of a do-not-call registry.

The Federal Court released its decision today in the case of Philippa Lawson v. Accusearch Inc.

On December 19, 2005, CIPPIC filed an application for judicial review in the Federal Court of Canada challenging the Privacy Commissioner's determination that she lacks jurisdiction to investigate a US-based data-broker.

CIPPIC has filed a complaint under the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act against a Canadian data-broker.

The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission has decided to regulate voice-over-internet protocol service in the same way that it regulates other voice services, when it is provided and used as local telephone service.

In June and July, 2004, CIPPIC filed complaints with the Privacy Commissioner of Canada about two U.S.-based companies, Abika.com and National Locator Services, that offer online background checks and other search services about individuals, including Canadians, for a fee.

CIPPIC filed comments with the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business Services (MCBS) on its draft regulations under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, as they would affect online transactions.

CIPPIC joins a global coalition of privacy and consumer advocacy groups in calling for a framework of Fair Information Practices to govern the collection of data through RFID technology in the marketplace.

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The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) and the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) today asked the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Canadian Competition Bureau to investigate the business practices of Montreal-based software distributor Integrated Search Technologies and several of its business partners.

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Following on an uproar this past summer in the USA over the availability of cell phone records from online investigation services, MacLean's Magazine conducted a similar investigation in Canada.

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In a July 12th Investigation Report, the Alberta Privacy Commissioner strongly rebuked two law firms for their "lack of attention" to privacy laws in the course of advising companies on business transactions.