Privacy Law Commons^™

Virtual Property, Real Law: The Regulation Of Property In Video Games, Susan H. Abramovitch, David L. Cummings

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article considers property created and used in the virtual realm of video games, which is often given real- T world value. From the unauthorized copying of designer clothes sold on Second Life for in-game cash, to real court damages awarded against game operators’ deletion of player-earned swords on Mir 3, a bridge has been taking shape from video gaming’s virtual economies to real-world economies. However, virtual property created in virtual worlds has yet to be formally recognized by North American courts or legislatures. This article attempts to touch on some of the legal considerations paramount in determining how such …

Authorizing Copyright Infringement And The Control Requirement: A Look At P2p File-Sharing And Distribution Of New Technology In The U.K., Australia, Canada, And Singapore, Jeffrey C.J. Lee

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The doctrine of authorizing copyright infringement has been used to deal with the marketing of new Ttechnology that might be employed by a user to infringe copyright, from the distribution of blank cassette tapes and double-cassette tape recorders to photocopiers. It is being tested yet again with the distribution of peer-to-peer file-sharing software that enables the online exchange of MP3 music and other copyrighted files. This article looks at the different positions adopted in several Commonwealth jurisdictions, and examines the policy considerations behind these positions. It looks at, in particular, the recent Australian case of Universal Music Australia Pty Ltd. …

Tracking Rfid, Jonathan Weinberg

Law Faculty Research Publications

RFID-Radio Frequency Identification-is a powerful enabling technology with a wide range of potential applications. Its proponents initially overhyped its capabilities and business case: RFID deployment is proceeding along a much slower and less predictable trajectory than was initially thought. Nonetheless, in the end it is plausible that we will find ourselves moving in the direction of a world with pervasive RFID: a world in which objects' wireless self-identification will become much more nearly routine, and networked devices will routinely collect and process the resulting information.

RFID-equipped goods and documents present privacy threats: they may reveal information about themselves, and hence …

Ict And Employer-Employee Power Dynamics: A Comparative Perspective Of United States' And Netherlands' Workplace Privacy In Light Of Information And Computer Technology Monitoring And Positioning Of Employees, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 37 (2007), Colette Cuijpers

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Employees can cause harm to their employers through Information and Computer Technology (ICT) in employment relationships; for example, through surfing for adult material on the Internet or leaking company secrets via a mobile phone. Employers have responded to this development by introducing various surveillance systems. Besides well-known forms of Internet and e-mail surveillance, positioning systems are becoming a new trend. The influence these systems have on the employment relationship can be far-reaching, as they offer the employer an insight into the employee’s whereabouts, outside the company premises as well as outside company hours. As a consequence, the boundaries between the …

Biometrics: Weighing Convenience And National Security Against Your Privacy, Lauren D. Adkins

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The biometric identifier relies on an individual's unique biological information such as a hand, iris, fingerprint, facial or voice print. When used for verification purposes, a "one-to-one" match is generated in under one second. Biometric technology can substantially improve national security by identifying and verifying individuals in a number of different contexts, providing security in ways that exceed current identification technology and limiting access to areas where security breaches are especially high, such as airport tarmacs and critical infrastructure facilities. At the same time, a legitimate public concern exists concerning the misuse of biometric technology to invade or violate personal …

From Taylorism To The Omnipticon: Expanding Employee Surveillance Beyond The Workplace, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 1 (2007), Robert D. Sprague

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Application Service Providing, Copyright, And Licensing, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 79 (2007), Michael P. Widmer

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Application Service Providing ("ASP"), where a vendor hosts a software application on her server and grants customers access to the application over a network -- without the software application itself being installed on the user’s computer -- is used by many, e.g. in the form of Web based e-mail services, and grows ever more important. This article argues that although ASP mainly raises questions (i) that come up in the context of traditional use of computer programs; or (ii) that have been addressed in the context of online use of works other than software, ASP has significantly different copyright implications …

The Fda And The Future Of The Brain-Computer Interface: Adapting Fda Device Law To The Challenges Of Human-Machine Enhancement, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 117 (2007), Eric Chan

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Angling For A Fair Standard: A Recommendation For A Narrowly Tailored Non-Profit Exemption To The Closed Captioning Requirements, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 165 (2007), Joshua Pila

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

In late 2006, the FCC’s Consumer and Government Affairs Bureau (“CGB”) issued the Anglers Order, providing a wholesale exemption for non-profit entities seeking to avoid the strictures of the Commission’s closed captioning rules. Disability advocates quickly criticized the Anglers Order on administrative law and communications law grounds. This paper avoids administrative law and communications law issues, but instead criticizes the Anglers Order on non-profit law and policy grounds. The paper then recommends and supports a post-application, narrowly-tailored financial test, automatically exempting A) non-profit organizations, with B) less than $25,000 in annual revenue, who C) receive no financial compensation for airing …

Slingbox: Copyright, Fair Use, And Access To Television Programming Anywhere In The World, 25 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 187 (2007), Shekar Sathyanarayana

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

No abstract provided.

Beyond The (Current) Fourth Amendment: Protecting Third-Party Information, Third Parties, And The Rest Of Us Too, Stephen E. Henderson

Faculty Articles

For at least thirty years the Supreme Court has adhered to its third-party doctrine in interpreting the Fourth Amendment, meaning that so far as a disclosing party is concerned, information in the hands of a third party receives no Fourth Amendment protection. The doctrine was controversial when adopted, has been the target of sustained criticism, and is the predominant reason that the Katz revolution has not been the revolution many hoped it would be. Some forty years after Katz the Court's search jurisprudence largely remains tied to property conceptions. As I have demonstrated elsewhere, however, the doctrine is not the …

Should Scientific Research In The Lead-Up To Invention Vitiate Obviousness Under The Patented Medicines (Notice Of Compliance) Regulations: To Test Or Not To Test?, Ron A. Bouchard

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article is an analysis of case law pertaining to whether scientific research in the lead-up to invention should vitiate a finding of obviousness in pharmaceutical litigation under the Patented Medicines (Notice of Compliance) Regulations (the ‘‘NOC Regulations’’). The NOC Regulations belong to a class of legal instruments referred to as ‘‘linkage regulations’’ that tie patent protection for marketed pharmaceuticals to the Canadian drug approval process. Therefore, the NOC Regulations control entry of generic drugs into the market and access by the public to affordable medication. The issue of testing arises out of the complex and inverse relationship between inventiveness …

Global Reach, Local Grasp: Constructing Extraterritorial Jurisdiction In The Age Of Globalization, Stephen Coughlan, Robert Currie, Hugh Kindred, Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The reach of national law is often greater than its grasp. Although Canada has effective legal power over its territory and all within it, Canadian interests are no longer confined exclusively within Canadian borders. Canada thus finds it increasingly necessary to consider asserting its legal jurisdiction beyond its frontiers. Such extraterritorial assertion of Canadian legal authority may run into strong opposition from other countries, who might view Canada as attempting to intervene in their own national territories and domestic affairs. Likewise, other states, under the same pressures of globalization, may try to extend their legal reach into Canadian territory, where …

Privacy, Crime And Terror: Legal Rights And Security In A Time Of Peril By Stanley A. Cohen (Markham: Lexisnexis Butterworths, 2005), Teresa Scassa

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

It is now trite to say that the events of September 11, 2001 have had a profound impact on our national security, in terms of its institutional and normative dimensions, and also in terms of a more general public anxiety. The hastily enacted Anti-terrorism Act of 2001 brought about significant changes to a wide range of statutes including, among others, the Criminal Code, the Official Secrets Act, the Canada Evidence Act, and the Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act. An early conference and resultant book on the Anti-terrorism Act raised serious concerns about the potential impact of the changes on …

The Technology Of Surveillance: Will The Supreme Court's Expectations Ever Resemble Society's?, Stephen Henderson

Other Faculty Publications

For law students studying criminal procedure—or at least for those cramming for the exam—it becomes a mantra: government conduct only implicates the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable searches if it invades a “reasonable expectation of privacy.” This is not the contemporary definition of the word “search,” nor was it the definition at the time of the founding. But, via a well-intentioned concurrence by Justice Harlan in the famous 1967 case of Katz v. United States, it became the Court’s definition.This lack of fealty to the English language left some questions. For example, is determining whether someone has a “reasonable expectation …

Structural Rights In Privacy, Harry Surden

Publications

This Essay challenges the view that privacy interests are protected primarily by law. Based upon the understanding that society relies upon nonlegal devices such as markets, norms, and structure to regulate human behavior, this Essay calls attention to a class of regulatory devices known as latent structural constraints and provides a positive account of their role in regulating privacy. Structural constraints are physical or technological barriers which regulate conduct; they can be either explicit or latent. An example of an explicit structural constraint is a fence which is designed to prevent entry onto real property, thereby effectively enforcing property rights. …

Layered Rights: Robertson V. Thomson, Gregory R. Hagen

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In Robertson v. Thomson Corp., the Supreme Court of Canada (‘‘ the Court ’’) considered ‘‘ whether newspaper publishers are entitled as a matter of law to republish in electronic databases freelance articles they have acquired for publication in their newspapers — without compensation to the authors and without their consent’’. Curiously, while deciding that publishers are not entitled to reproduce the individual articles without the consent of the freelancers, it also held that the publishers do have a right to reproduce the articles in a CD- ROM database ‘‘as a part of those collective works — their newspapers . …

Step In The Wrong Direction: The Impact Of The Legislative Protection Of Technological Protection Measures On Fair Dealing And Freedom Of Expression, Graham Reynolds

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper will investigate whether legislation granting protection to TPMs infringes the freedom of expression (s. 2(b)) guarantee as contained in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This paper will proceed in five parts. Part I will discuss Bill C-60 and the legislative protection of TPMs in Canada. Part II will discuss the effect of TPMs on fair dealing. Part III will analyze whether the freedom of expression guarantee can be used to challenge provisions in the Copyright Act. Part IV will evaluate whether amendments to the Copyright Act granting protection to TPMs are consistent with the freedom of …

Licenced To Thrive? Podcasting And Copyright Law In Canada, Keith Sutherland

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This article examines podcasting and its specific characteristics to see, first, where it fits within Canada’s copyright law, and second, how the licensing regime for musical works in Canada applies to podcasting. The discussion next turns to whether or not the current licensing regime for podcasting is desirable in light of the purpose of copyright in Canada, and with a view to the various interests at stake: those of artists, in being paid, and those of society, in enabling podcasters to access material in order to produce their work. An examination of the current and proposed licensing regime and its …

Electronic Trespass In Canada: The Protection Of Private Property On The Internet, James Macdonald

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper argues that Canadian courts can, and should, adopt electronic trespass as a viable cause of action for the protection of property rights on the Internet. Of course, this conclusion presupposes that property rights in fact exist on the Internet. While American courts have accepted the existence of property rights on the Internet without any real controversy, a significant body of criticism has developed around American jurisprudence. Part III examines the critiques levelled against the assumption of property rights inherent in electronic trespass, and argues that there are property rights that need to be protected on the Internet. Part …

Nanotechnology And The United States National Plan For Research And Development In Support Of Critical Infrastructure Protection, Lisa Campbell

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In an effort to predict and avert threats to national security, governments in general, and that of the United States in particular, have devoted considerable resources to developing technological systems that gather information about individuals. In the past five years, the U.S. government has collected information about the movement of individuals across and within its national borders from various sources, including border security stations, law enforcement officials, and immigration authorities. Until recently, it seemed impossible for the U.S. government to draw useful analyses from all of the data it is collecting. The sheer volume and complexity of the information made …

The Crtc's Enforcement Of Canada's Broadcast Legislation: 'Concern', 'Serious Concern' And 'Grave Concern', Monica Auer

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This paper describes results from a quantitative study of the enforcement by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC or Commission) over the last several decades of Canada’s broadcasting legislation and its own regulations. Established by Parliament in 1968, the CRTC is a quasi-judicial regulatory agency that administers Canada’s Broad- casting Act, 1991 as well as the nation’s telecommunications legislation. Parliament has accorded the CRTC a broad range of discretionary powers over broadcast licensees, from granting, denying or revoking licences, to issuing mandatory orders. It is one of many federal regulatory agencies that administer and enforce Parliament’s legislation.

Intellectual Property: The Law In Canada By Daniel Gervais & Elizabeth F. Judge (Toronto: Thomson Carswell, 2006), David Lametti

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Producers And Consumers In Eu E-Commerce Law, Banu Sit

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Rapid growth of technology in the last decades has given rise to electronic commerce (e-commerce) as a new mode of commerce. This new commerce environment has many characteristics that affect commercial relationships and parties. Of these characteristics, global and borderless commercial activity and the intangible nature of communication can be singled out.

From a legal perspective, e-commerce has developed new modes, of contract formation, performance of contracts for intangible goods, as well as payment. In this new borderless and transient sphere, certain interests of parties involved in commercial activities as buyers or sellers are in need of protection. In particular, …

It Waste Management In Canada: From Cost Recovery To Resource Conservation?, Meinhard Doelle

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The volume, composition and management of solid waste generated by households, governments, the commercial sector, and industry have all changed dramatically over the past century. Household waste contained mainly organic material a hundred years ago. Today, both residential and commercial waste is a complex mix of organics, plastics, paper products, metals and a variety of toxic material. Historically, individual households looked after their own waste, through efforts such as composting and burning. Over the past century, with significant increases in volume of waste generated, municipalities have taken over primary responsibility for solid waste management, initially mainly for aesthetic and sanitary …

Ests Under Canadian Patent Law: Useful Or Not?, Natalie C. Bellefeuille

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

The following discussion will examine the utility requirement for patentability in the context of EST patents. Part I will provide background information regarding the utility requirement under patent law and will explain why it has been difficult to apply to ESTs. Part II will briefly examine how other jurisdictions, in particular the United States, have addressed the difficul- ties associated with applying the current utility require- ment to biological materials, in particular ESTs. Part III will look at how Canadian courts have interpreted and applied the utility requirement for patentability, and will suggest that ESTs have sufficient value to the …

Personal Medical Information: Privacy Or Personal Data Protection?, Wilhelm Peekhaus

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Some of the existing literature concerning the privacy of health information seems to suggest that medical information has a particularly special nature; either through its oft-cited association with dignity or the need for its ‘‘unobstructed’’ use by health care practitioners for a variety of reasons. It is against such a backdrop that this paper will review and compare a number of legislative mechanisms that have been designed to meet the challenge of safeguarding the privacy of personal information without completely hindering the continued flow of information required by economic and health care systems. An attempt will be made to situate …

E-Commerce Legislation And Materials In Canada: Lois Sur Le Commerce Électronique Au Canada Et Documents Connexes By Sunny Handa, Claude Marseille & Martin Sheehan (Markham, Ont.: Lexisnexis Butterworths, 2005), John D. Gregory

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This hefty volume is a useful compendium of the basic source materials for the law of electronic commerce in Canada. It offers the text of all the general-purpose legislation that removes legal barriers to the use of electronic communications, for all jurisdictions in the country. It then takes a dozen related areas of law, from domain names to taxation, from competition law to consumer protection, from security to standards, and offers a quick overview and the key documents applicable to each. In each case the commentary is in English then in French, and where the texts are available in both …

The Protection Of Maps And Spatial Databases In Europe And The United States By Copyright And The Sui Generis Right, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 195 (2006), Katleen Janssen, Jos Dumortier

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Spatial data and applications play an ever-increasing part in our economy and in our society in general, but the protection of spatial databases by intellectual property rights seems to be a challenge because the Internet and information technology have caused a considerable increase in the copying of data, maps, route descriptions, hiking trails, etc. The illegal copying of spatial data, however, has caused the data producers to turn to several means of protection, such as intellectual property legislation, unfair competition, confidentiality and privacy. This paper begins by determining what is meant by spatial data. Thereafter, the paper reflects on the …

Provisional Relief In Transnational Litigation In The Internet Era: What Is In The Us Best Interest?, 24 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 263 (2006), Panagiota Kelali

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

Using the hypothetical of a college student victimized by a fraudulent website, this comment addresses the issue of Internet fraud. In the example presented, the perpetrators are Greek nationals located in Greece. Focusing on the intangible and international nature of the Internet, the comment addresses the complications surrounding litigating an Internet fraud case. The issues discussed include a determination of the forum where the suit should be brought, preservation of the status quo pending determination of the dispute, and the status of a transnational cooperation on the issue of recognition and enforcement of judgments. The comment presents the options available …