Privacy Law Commons^™

Searches Of The Person: A New Approach To Electronic Device Searches At Canadian Customs, Justin Doll

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

What goes through your mind at customs? As you wait in that folded line, edging closer to a row of enclosed booths manned by uniformed officers, surrounded by security cameras and warning signs? Perhaps you’re trying to act naturally, then wondering if it shows? Perhaps you’re mentally recalculating the amount you’ve scribbled onto your customs declaration? Or perhaps you’re exhausted from your flight, maybe nursing a bit of a hangover, not thinking about much at all? When you finally get to the front of the line, how do you expect your conversation with the customs officer to go?

According to …

Real You Meets Virtual You: It Is Time For Consumers To Regain Power Online, Neeka Hodaie

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Privacy Dependencies, Solon Barocas, Karen Levy

Washington Law Review

This Article offers a comprehensive survey of privacy dependencies—the many ways that our privacy depends on the decisions and disclosures of other people. What we do and what we say can reveal as much about others as it does about ourselves, even when we don’t realize it or when we think we’re sharing information about ourselves alone. We identify three bases upon which our privacy can depend: our social ties, our similarities to others, and our differences from others. In a tie-based dependency, an observer learns about one person by virtue of her social relationships with others—family, friends, or other …

Cross-Border Data Flows, The Gdpr, And Data Governance, W. Gregory Voss

Washington International Law Journal

Today, cross-border data flows are an important component of international trade and an element of digital service models. However, they are impeded by restrictions on cross-border personal data transfers and data localization legislation. This Article focuses primarily on these complexities and on the impact of the new European Union (“EU”) legislation on personal data protection—the GDPR. First, this Article introduces its discussion of these flows by placing them in their economic and geopolitical setting, including a discussion of the results of a lack of international harmonization of law in the area. In this framework, rule overlap and rival standards are …

Developing Privacy Best Practices For Direct-To-Public Legal Apps: Observations And Lessons Learned, Teresa Scassa, Amy Salyzyn, Jena Mcgill, Suzanne Bouclin

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Canada’s access to justice problem is undeniable. Too many people are unable to get the help they need when they experience legal issues. The reasons underlying this problem are multi-faceted and complex. One major barrier to effectively accessing justice is the cost of legal services; the fees associated with hiring a lawyer are often prohibitive. Increasingly, technology is advanced as a potential solution to the unaffordability of conventional legal services. Courts have tried to create efficiencies by, for example, allowing for e-filing and video- conferenced testimony, where appropriate. For lawyers, new technology products emerge almost daily to help streamline tasks …

Can Pipeda ‘Face’ The Challenge? An Analysis Of The Adequacy Of Canada’S Private Sector Privacy Legislation Against Facial Recognition Technology, Tunca Bolca

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

Facial recognition technology is one of the most intrusive and privacy threatening technologies available today. The literature around this technology mainly focuses on its use by the public sector as a mass surveillance tool; however, the private sector uses of facial recognition technologies also raise significant privacy concerns. This paper aims to identify and examine the privacy implications of the private sector uses of facial recognition technologies and the adequacy of Canada’s federal private sector privacy legislation, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), in addressing these privacy concerns. Facial templates produced and recorded by these technologies are …

Reflections On The Influence Of Social Media On Judging, Peter D. Lauwers Justice

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

This essay examines the influence of social media on judging. While the ethical implications of judges’ engagement in social media have received some scholarly attention, the actual influence of social media on judging has not.1 But it is possible to make some useful observations that might at once seem obvious and disquieting.

This essay is divided into four parts. Part 1 describes the normative judicial disposition. Part 2 examines the psychology of judging. Part 3 asks what could go wrong with the judicial use of social media. Part 4 describes a stance judges might take towards social media.

Case Comment: British Columbia (Attorney General) V. Brecknell, David T. Fraser

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In a day and age where a large portion of both innocent and criminal communications travel across the border and then reside on servers outside of the country, many Canadian police and prosecutors were understandably excited by the British Columbia Court of Appeal’s decision in Brecknell. This case concludes that a Canadian court can order an entity that is only ‘‘virtually present” to produce records pursuant to a Criminal Code production order.

While it is a case that deals with a compelling issue faced by Canadian law enforcement in an environment where hundreds of such orders are issued naming US …

A Better Act, More Bad Behaviour Online: Nova Scotia’S New Intimate Images And Cyber-Protection Act Goes To Court, Jennifer Taylor

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

There is now a reported decision under Nova Scotia’s new Intimate Images and Cyber-protection Act,1 which came into force in July 2018 after the previous legislation, the Cyber-safety Act,2 was struck down as unconstitutional.3

The case, Candelora v. Feser,4 was set against the backdrop of a bitter family law dispute. Dawna Candelora (the Applicant), alleged that her former spouse Trevor Feser and his new partner Sonia Dadas (the Respondents) were cyber- bullying her through an unrelenting stream of negative Facebook posts.

Justice Joshua Arnold of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia found that the Respondents had engaged in cyber-bullying and …

Book Review: The Long Journey To Software Valuation: Risks And Rewards Ahead By Dwight Olson, Duncan C. Card

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

One of the most difficult challenges for any technology start-up, and for its investors, is how to assess the commercial value of their innovative product or service solution. Much-needed guidance on that challenge has finally arrived. Dwight Olson’s The Long Journey To Software Valuation, released on March 1st of this year, provides tremendous assistance for both owners of those assets and all potential investors. In fact, the arrival of Mr. Olson’s book is a relief. As my law practice has been, and remains, devoted to aggressively commercializing technology (including software) for over 25 years, I personally know how welcome …

U.S.-U.K. Executive Agreement: Case Study Of Incidental Collection Of Data Under The Cloud Act, Eddie B. Kim

Washington Journal of Law, Technology & Arts

In March 2018, Congress passed the Clarifying Lawful Overseas Use of Data Act, also known as the CLOUD Act, in order to expedite the process of cross-border data transfers for the purposes of criminal investigations. The U.S. government entered into its first Executive Agreement, the main tool to achieve the goals of the statute, with the United Kingdom in October 2019. While the CLOUD Act requires the U.S. Attorney General to consider whether the foreign government counterpart has a certain level of robust data privacy laws, the relevant laws of the United Kingdom have generally been questioned numerous times for …

Anti-Masking Statutes And Anonymous Protest In The Age Of Surveillance, Nicholas Doherty

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

A New Compact For Sexual Privacy, Danielle K. Citron

Faculty Scholarship

Intimate life is under constant surveillance. Firms track people’s periods, hot flashes, abortions, sexual assaults, sex toy use, sexual fantasies, and nude photos. Individuals hardly appreciate the extent of the monitoring, and even if they did, little can be done to curtail it. What is big business for firms is a big risk for individuals. The handling of intimate data undermines the values that sexual privacy secures—autonomy, dignity, intimacy, and equality. It can imperil people’s job, housing, insurance, and other crucial opportunities. More often, women and minorities shoulder a disproportionate amount of the burden.

Privacy law is failing us. Our …

Ethical Implications Of Forensic Genealogy In Criminal Cases, Solana Lund

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The use of forensic genealogy to solve criminal cases is likely to increase in the coming years, especially given its success in solving cold cases. While its potential for good is impressive, there are also legitimate ethical concerns that need to be addressed. As society sees an increase in the use of forensic genealogy and DTC databases in criminal investigations as well as an increase in the media attention it garners, there will be more discussion regarding ethical implications. Legal scholars say that it is only a matter of time before courts weigh in on the privacy of DNA and …

Adapting U.S. Electronic Surveillance Laws, Policies, And Practices To Reflect Impending Technological Developments, Eric Manpearl

Catholic University Law Review

Intelligence collection must always evolve to meet technological developments. While the collection programs under Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 have produced a great deal of valuable intelligence over the last decade, the United States must begin to think about foreseeable technological developments and strategically consider how to conduct signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection in the future.

This Article identifies four technological trends that could significantly impact the way the United States conducts SIGINT. Individuals now have access to sophisticated technologies that formerly only governments seemed capable of creating, and this decentralization of capabilities will likely only increase …

Revisiting The “Private Use Exception” To Canada’S Child Pornography Laws: Teenage Sexting, Sex-Positivity, Pleasure, And Control In The Digital Age, Lara Karaian, Dillon Brady

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In R v Sharpe, the Supreme Court of Canada read in a “private use exception” to the offence of possessing child pornography. The Court reasoned that youths’ self-created expressive material and private recordings of lawful sexual activity—created by, or depicting the accused and held by the accused exclusively for private use—would pose little or no risk to children and may in fact be of significance to adolescent self-fulfillment, self-actualization, sexual exploration, and identity. Fundamental changes in the technological, social, sexual, and legal landscape since Sharpe have resulted in a lack of clarity regarding the exception’s scope. Federal and provincial police …

Cryptocurrencies' Revolt Against The Bsa: Why The Supreme Court Should Hold That The Bank Secrecy Act Violates The Fourth Amendment, Jeremy Ciarabellini

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) creates a Hobson’s choice: one must either struggle to function in modern society without a bank account or submit to financial surveillance by the government. Both choices result in drastic consequences.

Youtube Is Unsafe For Children: Youtube's Safeguards And The Current Legal Framework Are Inadequate To Protect Children From Disturbing Content, Heather Wilson

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

For America’s children, the amount of screen time they consume has not changed much over the years. Children under eight have steadily spent about two hours a day in front of a screen, with those under age two averaging 42 minutes a day. Children from low-income families spend roughly an hour and forty minutes longer in front of a screen. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, screen time should be limited to two hours a day for children ages two to five; whereas, for those youngest children—under two years—they recommend zero screen time.

While the average amount of screen …

The Deliberative-Privacy Principle: Abortion, Free Speech, And Religious Freedom, B. Jessie Hill

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Regulating Personal Data Usage In Covid-19 Control Conditions, Mark Findlay, Nydia Remolina

Centre for AI & Data Governance (2019-2025)

As the COVID-19 health pandemic ebbs and flows world-wide, governments and private companies across the globe are utilising AI-assisted surveillance, reporting, mapping and tracing technologies with the intention of slowing the spread of the virus. These technologies have capacity to amass and share personal data for community control and citizen safety motivations that empower state agencies and inveigle citizen co-operation which could only be imagined outside times of real and present personal danger. While not cavilling with the short-term necessity for these technologies and the data they control, process and share in the health regulation mission (provided that the technology …