Inventions « Brian Bowman – On the Cutting Edge

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: Businesses, Copyright, Corporate Information, Employees, Facebook, Information Technology, Intellectual Property, Internet, Inventions, Manitoba, Mobile devices, Personal Information, PIPEDA, Privacy, Privacy Breach, Privacy Compliance, Safeguarding, Social Networking, Technology | 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: Facebook, Internet, Inventions, Online Reputation Management, Personal Information, Privacy | Permalink
Posted by Brian Bowman