Later today I’m headed for the Canadian IT Law Association’s annual conference, which is in Montreal this year. In my opinion this is consistently the best continuing ed conference for those who practice IT law.

Are any other Slaw contributors or readers going? . . . [more]

I’m following Omar Khadr’s sentencing hearing via Carol Rosenberg’s tweets. She’s a Miami journalist who has covered Guantanamo longer than any other reporter. The “jury” of U.S. military officers is engaged in the business determining the appropriate sentence for Mr. Khadr, who has pleaded guilty to five serious offences in this… curious process.

As of half an hour ago, a forensic psychiatrist, Michael Weiner is on the stand testifying as to whether Khadr is dangerous as “a violent jihadist.” The witness claims to have worked for 500-600 hours on the Khadr case, hired by the U.S. Department of Defence. . . . [more]

I’m forever blowing bubbles,
Pretty bubbles in the air.
They fly so high,
Nearly reach the sky,
Then like my dreams,
They fade and die.

James Kendis, James Brockman and Nat Vincent – 1919

I refer, of course, to the unfortunate Officer Bubbles, the Toronto police officer who has become something of a celebrity because of, among other things, his lawsuit against YouTube for publishing cartoons of his response during the G20 meeting to a protester who blew soap bubbles in his direction. For those three of you who missed the fuss, the Toronto Star has the story and a . . . [more]

There has been a lot of press over the Privacy Commissioner’s decision that the Google Street View collection of information from unprotected wifi signals breached PIPEDA. See the press release, and the decision. See examples of press reports by the CBC and CTV. The CTV report says that Spanish regulators announced they were filing a lawsuit against Google for the incident, seeking millions in fines.

I know nothing more about this than I read in the press – but I think we need to put Google’s actions in perspective here. Yes, it should not have collected that . . . [more]

There’s a time in the fall when I realize that colour is fading and we’re once again headed for the blacks, whites, and greys of winter — when, as it were, the world is putting on the drab of business clothing because the holiday is over. (How we wound up as a society that enforces dress in shades of dull is another story, perhaps.)

I comfort myself with the thought that great things are possible in black and white. Print. Early television. Yousuf Karsh portraits. The night sky…

And evocations, too, of our human “dark” side. Some of these can . . . [more]

In the course of this profession you occasionally come across little oddities that catch your attention and amuse you. When it happens to me I often share them here at Slaw. The most recent oddity to catch our attention is an interestingly named case from Nova Scotia in 1919, The King v. Fifty Gallons Rum, (1919) 53 NSR 131, 31 CCC 10. Hitherto I had been unaware that an inanimate object could be named in an criminal case. In this instance it seems that Fifty Gallons of Rum, was caught at the wrong place, at the wrong . . . [more]

Leslie Wolf of the California Digital Library has written a quick point-by-point guide to how to organize smooth-running virtual meetings:

We spend our days attending lots of meetings, yet the well-managed meeting stands out as a rare gem. It’s not easy to run a good meeting, and in our increasingly virtual world it’s even harder to run an effective virtual meeting. But it’s a skill worth practicing, and your teammates will thank you for it.

The author provides a number of suggestions for what organizers should do before, at, during and after the meeting.

And here is Monty Python’s . . . [more]

Today’s Dispatches on CBC Radio includes a four-minute report by Carol Rosenberg on the way in which reporters are treated at “Camp Justice” Guantánamo. Rosenberg is a reporter for the Miami Herald and has more experience covering trials there than anyone.

Now that the trial of Omar Khadr is back in the news — and lest you harbour any illusions that what is going on bears even a scant resemblance to justice — you might like to listen to the portion of the program featuring her. (The full broadcast of Dispatches is available here.)

You might . . . [more]

Laura Legge, O. Ont., Q.C., passed away on October 15, 2010.

First Member of Atlantic Canada's Mi’kmaq Community to be Appointed Judge

We southerners are rarely able to see the stars, let alone the true spectacle of the heavens, the aurora borealis. But never fear: the internet to the rescue. The Canadian Space Agency maintains the AuroraMax Project, which features a web cam pointed at the Yellowknife sky — after dusk, natch. So the insomniacs among us can watch live as the northern lights play up in the ionosphere.

Now, Yellowknife is currently on Mountain Daylight Time, 6 hours off GMT, with sunset at around 7:20 p.m. local time. If you’re not prepared to stay up to catch the best of . . . [more]

Dan wrote yesterday about what to do if hackers steal your online accounts. As a companion to that, Yahoo!Canada has an article from Real Simple magazine entitled Scams Even you Could Fall For – And How to Avoid Them. 

It talks about things like phony gift card offers, mails that look like they come from your bank, sellers of fake items like event tickets, and fake charities. It also suggests some resources to use for checking to see if things are legit. Sometimes just doing a Google or Bing search will ferret out if something is a common scam. . . . [more]