IP Osgoode (at Osgoode Hall Law School) names On the Cutting Edge “Pick of the Week”

June 10, 2009

ChoicesI was delighted to learn that IP Osgoode has named this blog the “Pick of the Week”!

IP Osgoode at Osgood Hall Law School in Toronto is a new, independent and authoritative voice which explores legal governance issues at the intersection of intellectual property (IP) and technology. If you haven’t yet visited the IP Osgoode website, I would encourage you to do so as it contains some great content.

If you are also interested in finding additional resources, you may want to visit the Nymity website. Of particular interest, the Nymity website has a section dedicated to recent privacy breaches and recent privacy studies. Finally, you may also want to visit the Canadian Association of Professional Access and Privacy Administrators website.

Hope these links help!

Leave a Comment » | Blogs, Intellectual Property, Privacy, Privacy Breach, Technology | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

Social networking websites and employer-employee relationships

June 2, 2009

As I’ve previously discussed, Social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook are provoking new questions about the appropriate boundaries in employee-employer relationships. This is evident in a United States Federal Court case coming to a head in New Jersey. The case pertains to the conduct of a manager who logged into a private social networking website and observed employees slandering company supervisors and customers. Those same employees were later dismissed. The case exemplifies a rapidly expanding “grey area” between an employee’s work life and personal social life. It begs the question, at what point does a “private” comment to friend made outside of the office constitute defamation, and at what point are such comments simply banter between individuals?  Of course, the answer is, it all depends on the facts. 

For an interesting discussion on the matter, check out Myrth on a Blog, a personal journal of law, technology and social media.

1 Comment | Access to Information, Blogs, Defamation, Employee Monitoring, Facebook, Internet, MySpace, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

Information & Ideas team speaks out on slaw.ca

May 29, 2009

It’s been a thrilling week for my colleagues at Pitblado LLP as it was announced earlier this week that we were to be the 1st Canadian law firm to be a guest blogger on the must-read slaw.ca.  Yours truly, three of my colleagues from our firm’s Information & Ideas Practice Group as well as our firm’s librarian each contributed one post a day this week to slaw.ca on cutting edge legal topics.  Here’s what we covered…

On Monday, I posted “What Would Happen If One of your Employees Posted a Video of an Irate Customer on YouTube?”, which I cross posted on my blog earlier this week.  The post highlights a YouTube video of an irrate customer as a reminder to Canadian businesses of the powers of new technologies such as YouTube and the corresponding need to protect against the dissemination of this type of video through employee privacy training and the adoption and enforcement of privacy and procedures.

On Tuesday, Carol Lynn Schafer posted “Do TOS Have the Final Word on our Fundamental Rights and Freedoms?”, which discusses the controversial effects of Terms of Service on popular websites such as Facebook and Twitter.  As Carol Lynn notes, Terms of Service should be drafted with the bigger picture in mind and can no longer be seen as standard agreements that can be treated with a one size fits all approach.

On Wednesday, Jolin Spencer posted “Whose Property Is It, Anyway?”, which discusses the questions that come into play when employees leave their positions.  For example, what can an employee take, and what must they leave, when they vacate their position? As Jolin points out, no business wants its intellectual property assets walking out the door with a former employee.

On Thursday, our firm’s librarian, Karen Sawatsky, posted “Legal Research Bootcamp – Winnipeg Style”, which discusses her experience collaborating with members of the Manitoba Bar Association and the Law Society of Manitoba to create a CLE for articling students on legal research. The Legal Research Bootcamp is a first for Manitoba students, and aims to bridge the gap between when students start their articles and when CPLED begins in the fall.

And last but not least, today Adam Herstein posted “Manitoba: Innovative Fighter of Child Sexual Exploitation”, which focuses on Manitoba’s recent enactment of The Child and Family Services Amendment Act (Child Pornography Reporting) (Manitoba) and how Manitoba is the first province in Canada to enact legislation that makes it mandatory for a person who encounters child pornography to report it to authorities.  Adam also notes that Canada has a national tipline called Cybertip.ca for reporting the sexual exploitation of children.

Thanks to slaw.ca for the opportunity to contribute!

1 Comment | Blogs, Copyright, Facebook, Government, Intellectual Property, PIPEDA, Privacy, Social Networking Websites, Technology, Training | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

Do you know Internet 101?

April 30, 2009

classes-learningAre you a parent with children who use the Internet? Do your children have a better understanding of this new and constantly changing technology? Have your children ever texted “fts” or told you to “bma” in an online message ? I sure hope not!

If you have children, I’d encourage you to visit the Internet 101 website, which provides some great information to increase your computer knowledge. The site provides excellent resources including Tutorials to help you learn more about the online world, Technical Tips to help keep your computer secure, Chat Lingo to help you learn the online lingo, Popular Online Activities to expose you to what today’s youth are doing online, and an Internet Agreement to be signed between parents and children to help your family stay safe in the online world.

Even if you don’t have children, there is some valuable information on the site worth reading.

Leave a Comment » | Blogs, Facebook, Identity Theft, Internet, Privacy, Safeguarding, Social Networking Websites, Technology, Youth | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

Technology drives need for new privacy legislation

April 20, 2009

The Lawyers Weekly (a national newspaper for the Canadian legal profession) recently approached me to publish an article for their “Focus on Information Technology” section of the newspaper.  The request gave me pause to think about the impact on Canadians’ privacy of recent technological advances such as e-mail, instant messaging, online forums, blogs and social networking websites (such as Facebook and Twitter).  Upon reflection, I concluded that these technological advances are the driving force for what I argue are increasing calls for a “third wave” of privacy laws. 

The “first wave” of privacy laws (such as the federal Privacy Act) were introduced decades ago to protect the privacy of individuals in respect of public sector government bodies. The “second wave” of privacy laws (such as PIPEDA) were introduced more recently to protect the privacy of individuals in respect of private sector businesses.  Arguably, the only missing link in this chain of privacy protection, and what could be the focus of a “third wave” of privacy laws, is protecting individuals from violations of privacy by other individuals in the non-commercial sphere.  My goal with the article was not to promote a “third wave” of privacy laws, but rather to engage Canadians in a debate about whether such laws are required. 

 

I hope you click here to read the full article! 

 

I also encourage you to share your thoughts on whether – in the era of Facebook and Twitter – the status quo is sufficient or whether a “third wave” of privacy laws are needed.

 

 

1 Comment | Blogs, Defamation, Facebook, Internet, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

What the heck is RSS?

February 20, 2009

question-4Are you new to social media?  If so, you probably feel like people are talking in a whole different language. Blogs, wikis, RSS, Twitter – this is English? Or is it Venusian? 

After mentioning to a few colleagues that I’d like them to subscribe to this blog using RSS, I realized that I was probably talking to them in “Venusian”. So for all the newbies, here’s a brief explanation of RSS.

RSS stands for “really simple syndication” (or “rich site summary”, depending on which explanation you read). It’s a method of alerting the subscriber to new content. Instead of receiving an email when there’s a new post on a blog, you check your feed reader.

Now, I can hear some people thinking, why would I want to check another site when I’m checking my email a couple of times a day? To that, I say, how much email do you receive? How many newsletters that you get by email do you actually read? The beauty of RSS technology is it lets you do your reading when you’re ready to do it.

As I mentioned, there is one more step you have to take, and that is to set up a feed reader. Fortunately, at least two browsers (IE7 and Firefox) offer built-in readers. Select the “Subscribe via RSS” button

rss1and follow the directions.

If that still doesn’t make sense, here’s what Wikipedia says. For those of you who like a visual explanation, check out RSS in Plain English from the folks at the Common Craft store.  I’m now subscribing to other blogs using RSS.  If RSS isn’t your thing, you can always subscribe to this blog by e-mail.  RSS or e-mail subscription options are provided on the right hand side of the page – I hope you subscribe!

Leave a Comment » | Blogs, Internet, Social Networking Websites, Technology | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

Why employers should care about blogging

February 5, 2009

networkingWhy employers should care about blogging

My July 5, 2006 column in the Winnipeg Free Press talks about the importance of paying attention to what your employees are saying online.

Leave a Comment » | Blogs, Online Reputation Management, Privacy, Technology | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman

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