In May 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) upheld the so-called “right to be forgotten” in a privacy test case brought forward by a Spanish lawyer against Google. In its ruling, the court granted EU citizens the right to ask search engines, such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Bing, to remove links […]

On May 13, 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) issued a landmark decision that allows EU citizens the “right to be forgotten” – basically, the right to withdraw consent over the processing of an individual’s personal information. Under that ruling, individuals have the right to ask Google and other search engines […]

On May 3rd the Law Commission of Ontario (LCO) hosted an international conference examining how defamation law should be reformed in light of “far-reaching developments in law, technology, and social values.” The first panel of the conference, Rethinking Defamation Law: The Setting for Reform, provided an overview of defamation law in Canada and some factors […]

Earlier last month, the Law Commission of Ontario (‘LCO’) held a conference entitled “Defamation Law and the Internet: Where do we go from here? “. This may well have been the most comprehensive review of defamation law in the internet age, at least as proclaimed by the Project Brief of the LCO.

At the recent conference, “Defamation Law and the Internet: Where do we go from here?”, organized by the Law Commission of Ontario, the luncheon keynote focused on the issues of extra-territorial jurisdiction, anonymity, and unpublishing with respect to resolving online defamation claims.

Given the enormous growth in online defamation claims on social media, almost all requesting a removal of defamatory comments, these claims are not ideal for court-based resolution and should be subject to an alternative resolution framework. In the recent Law Commission of Ontario’s conference, Defamation Law and the Internet: Where Do We Go From Here?, experts […]