In R v Elliott, 2016 ONCJ 35 [Elliott], Gregory Elliott was found not guilty of criminally harassing two women by repeatedly communicating with them via Twitter through various hashtags they had created. In my view, Mr. Elliott fulfills the definition of a “Twitter troll” and I find his opinions personally offensive. But is the fact […]
In R v Rogers Communications, 2016 ONSC 70 [Rogers], Justice John Sproat of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice provided some much needed guidance to police and issuing justices when handling production orders for “tower dumps.” Sought by investigators through a court order, tower dumps occur when a telecom company is compelled to provide the […]
The electronic records of elected officials have been a recent subject of interest both in Canada and in the United States. Most recently, Democratic Presidential nominee hopeful, Hillary Clinton, started her campaign amid controversy in relation to a private email server she had used during her time as US Secretary of State. The implications led […]
A Decision of the United Kingdom’s Investigatory Powers Tribunal (“the Tribunal”) in Liberty v Secretary of State, [2015] UKIPTrib 13 77-H [Liberty], endorsed the importance of transparency in the surveillance practices of British security agencies such as the Security Service (“MI5”), the Secret Intelligence Service (“MI6”), and the Government Communications Headquarters (“GCHQ”). The decision emphasized […]
Yesterday, after weeks of incessant prodding by Apple, I finally decided to upgrade to the latest version of iTunes. Before doing so, however, a window emerged before me with a dizzying and seemingly endless block of text. Like most people faced with an ominous set of “Terms and Conditions,” I scrolled directly to the bottom […]
We have all seen how Facebook can shine a global light on local events with the help of news media. Posts that attract enough attention are reported, creating an even bigger splash online. This feedback can even amplify the impact of these events, turning a small protest into a revolution and a politician’s indiscretion into […]
The trial of Byron Sonne is an intriguing case that has baffled the media since he was arrested aboard a bus in the lead up to the Toronto G20 summit in June 2010. Following his arrest, Mr. Sonne was detained and questioned for 14 hours. He was denied the opportunity to speak with a lawyer until […]
In the companion cases of Breeden v Black, 2012 SCC 19 [Breeden] and Éditions Écosociété Inc. et al. v Banro Corp., 2012 SCC 18 [Banro], the Supreme Court of Canada clarified the manner in which courts should determine whether to exercise jurisdiction over multijurisdictional defamation claims involving foreign defendants. Although the decisions support the ability of plaintiffs to […]
Section 32 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms limits the Charter’s application to the activities of the Federal government and Parliament, and the government’s of each province. While the purpose of this provision is to clearly limit the scope of the Charter’s application, as in many areas of law, what initially appears to […]
When it Comes to Homicide, What’s Common? The Supreme Court of Canada will have the opportunity to revisit the charges laid of Adrian John Walle, a developmentally delayed Calgarian (cf. R v Walle, 2010 ABCA 384) on April 13. The Court will decide whether the Alberta Court of Appeal was correct in applying the “common […]