Concerns over privacy issues with Facebook are not new, but the more recent changes did create expectations of intervention through the Privacy Commissioner.

I’m not sure if anyone expected a class action lawsuit in Canada.

Not surprisingly it’s the Merchant Law Group LLP that is heading this claim “for improper handling of confidential information and privacy issues.”

Tony Merchant said,

What Facebook is doing is a bait-and-switch process. The bait is that they wanted to be able to do demographic sales targeting, and the switch is that to do that, they needed to get into people’s personal information.

. . . [more]

A little-known Ontario law called the Public Works Protection Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. P.55 received much publicity in the last few days due to the decision to designate a large swath of downtown Toronto as a “public work” (http://www.e-laws.gov.on.ca/html/source/regs/english/2010/elaws_src_regs_r10233_e.htm). It was said this was due to G20 security concerns, giving police wide powers to search people who even dared to venture near the G20 security zone.

Many were caught off-guard by this formerly little-known legislation. What does it do? . . . [more]

In a very curious custom, today seems to be the day when leases renew in Montréal, so it’s Moving Day, when a few hundred thousand Québecois decide to switch residence on the same day. Movers are sitting on their hands much of the rest of the year, but are booked solid for July 1 months in advance. Even at rates that are triple normal.

Why? . . . [more]

In May, the Ontario Court of Appeal reversed the lower court decision in Piresferreira v. Ayotte. The reversal limits an employee's ability to hold an employer liable for negligent or intentional infliction of emotional distress in the workplace. The Court stated that employees may not make the charge of negligent infliction of mental suffering against an employer or supervisor for conduct in the course of employment.

The oldest law reports in North America were originally written by Josiah Quincy Junior (1744-1775), recording the cases of continental America’s oldest court, the Superior Court of Judicature of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. That is the direct ancestor of today’s Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, which has been in continuous existence since 1692.

My friend Daniel R. Coquillette, former Dean of Boston College Law School has edited a new edition of the law reports published this month.

Quincy’s court reports offer a rare legal insight into life in the American colonies prior to the American Revolution, and cover such

. . . [more]

This is a short note with some links related to cyberbullying, starting with one to the June 27th New York Times feature article, Online Bullies Pull Schools Into the Fray. Reporter Jan Hoffman details how American school administrators are dealing with the pressure to intervene in cyberbullying cases despite challenging questions about the scope of their power to deal with “off campus” student conduct.

The pressure for intervention is understandable because the prospect of taking on a cyberbully through the courts can be daunting. Whether this cost should be mitigated by protective orders is the issue in a Nova . . . [more]

The good thing is that your cellphone lets others know where you are. The bad thing is that your cellphone lets others know where you are — whether you want it to or not.

Every few seconds your cellphone checks in with either a relay tower or a GPS system, which is how it’s able to perform the wonders of geolocation on Google Maps or Yelp or whatever apps you use to tell you where you are and what’s available around you. Of course, all this checking in leaves electronic records with those who provide or manage the connections, records . . . [more]

As discussed in other Slaw posts this weekend, it has been a difficult weekend in Toronto with peaceful protests associated with the G20 meeting being marred by criminal violence. The mainstream media has covered the more violent aspects as well as the human angle of people being held for four and a half hours in the rain on the streets last night, both aspects of which have been shocking to many of us living in the city. We also saw interviews on TV with people as they were being released from a temporary detention centre.

However, one thing we saw . . . [more]

For anyone who knows and loves the City of Toronto, the G20 conference has been a disaster. But not all disasters are inevitable.

Kenneth Grant Crawford stated Canadian Municipal Government in 1954,

It would be difficult to overemphasize the importance of the local government in the everyday life of the citizens, more especially for those who live in urban centres. That is not to say that one level of government is necessarily more important than another, for all perform functions which are essential to complete the probramme of governmental service demanded in a modern society. Yet few fully appreciate the

. . . [more]

Let’s all sing along with the Buffalo Springfield or (fittingly) the Police.

As Bugs almost said to Elmer: be afwaid, be vewwy afwaid. Consider this poster:

[“Steph All-Mighty” … “Stephen Harper: What if you could do anything, just like George W. Bush, for 4 years?”]

 However, for those who are looking for a more symbolic reasons, consider this sculpture of our national emblem . (Look up Beaverlodge, Alberta).

It predates even the first coming to Alberta of our current Great Leader, nonetheless …

 

“That’s Mr. Beaver, Sir, to you.”

 Those with a poetical bent might recall these words, from . . . [more]

The Utah Supreme Court this week held that electronic signatures gathered through a web site were valid signatures for the purpose of nominating a person to run for elected office: Anderson v Bell 2010 UT 47 June 22, 2010.

To run for governor in Utah, one needs a nomination document signed by one thousand people. The would-be candidate submitted a nomination form with a combination of hand-written and electronic signatures, the latter appearing on the form only as a list of typewritten names. The state election authority refused to accept the electronic signatures, thus reducing the number of signatures to . . . [more]

The Star reports today that the provincial  legislature cabinet passed a new law on June 2 without any debate. That wouldn’t be such a big deal, except that it won’t even be published in The Ontario Gazette until July 2, 2010, after it’s revoked on June 28, 2010.

Considering the nature of the regulation, it’s worthy of closer scrutiny.

Ontario Regulation 233/10 was made pursuant to ss. 1(c) and 6 of the Public Works Protection Act, and designates the now-infamous fenced-off area in downtown Toronto as a “public work.” But it’s not just the general area:

Everything described in…

. . . [more]