Earlier this month, Facebook experienced a backlash when it changed its privacy policy. The grassroots uprising can be seen on blogs such as The Consumerist, which dissected and criticized the new policies. Although Facebook had always reserved an “irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license” to use any content from its users, the new […]
Privacy rights are rights that attach to every individual. Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects them by asserting that “everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and correspondence.” Despite this, we know that our privacy rights (like all our other rights), are not absolute […]
In response to the growing concerns of illicit use of personal information and corresponding adverse consequences such as identity theft, financial disclosures and private health information revelation, the Office of Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) released a document entitled “Guidelines for Processing Personal Data Across Borders” on January 27, 2009. This document provides guidelines explaining […]
For the past year and a half, one political figure has evoked much publicity around the world that very few celebrities or politicians have enjoyed during their whole life. This political figure is the newly elected U.S. president, Barack Obama. The Obama craze has resulted in, what Megan Boler calls, a ‘merchandising mayhem’. In the U.S., […]
Do you remember the last time you made an online purchase from Amazon or the Apple Store? When you entered in all your personal information, do you remember reading Amazon or Apple’s privacy notices? If you clicked on it, did you read through the entire thing? It is quite likely that your answer would be […]
A Northern Ireland court has barred a Belfast newspaper, Sunday Life, from publishing unpixelated photos of the perpetrator of a sex related murder who is now being released after serving out his sentence. It had been the paper’s intent to publish pictures to enable the public to identify the man should he end up in […]
Rex Shoyama is a Visiting Professor and the Assistant Director of IP Osgoode. The general presumption in the Web 2.0 world is that a greater level of sharing and interoperability is a better thing. However, the method in which this sharing is attained should not be ignored as it can have significant legal ramifications. Rushing […]
The federal privacy gatekeepers identified a new market for identity thieves when they addressed the issue of online posting of decisions of federal administrative and quasi-judicial proceedings in the Annual Report of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (OPC) of Canada. This report on the Privacy Act was tabled by the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, […]
On December 2, 2008, the European Court of Human Rights released a decision concerning the prevention of online child exploitation. The decision, K.U. v. Finland, 2 Dec 2008, App No. 2872/02, held that the Finnish government violated the right to private life of a 12-year old boy when it failed to update its telecommunications laws, […]
Last Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights made an important ruling on the privacy of a person’s unique genetic information. The European Court, citing a Supreme Court of Canada decision with approval, determined that it was an illegal violation of a person’s rights to keep a person’s DNA sample when they had no prior […]