Earlier this week, Michel-Adrian Sheppard blogged on Slaw about Google’s new Government Requests Tool (Google Releases Data on Government Requests for Private User Data). I blogged about it as well here. I’m all in favor of pulling this out of the shadows and into the sunlight.

It’s interesting to peruse the numbers and to read the FAQ.

While the information provided raises a bunch of questions, they are very important questions to ask. What are the nature of the demands for customer information? Criminal law or national security? What are the relevant Google products involved? Why . . . [more]

Two BC organizations working to improve access to justice have merged operations. As of April 1st, the Western Canada Society to Access Justice and Pro Bono Law of British Columbia have merged, and will now be known as the Access Pro Bono Law Society of British Columbia – or simply ‘Access Pro Bono‘.

The two organizations have a long history of helping those with limited means in British Columbia. Access Justice was formed in 1990, and Pro Bono Law in 2002. A new website for Access Pro Bono is currently under construction, but should exist soon at www.accessprobono.ca . . . [more]

Happy Earth Day. Today is a good day to think about consumption.

The concept of the paperless office has been mentioned on Slaw in the past: How to Take Your Law Firm Paperless which links to a Lawyers Weekly article quoting our own Omar Ha-Redeye and Revisiting the Paperless Office to name just a few. There is also a great roundup on the Cyberlaw Central blog on “paperless” topics from the 2010 ABA Techshow.

A paperless office may not be universally achievable immediately in an organization but using less paper certainly is. Here are some easy things you can do: . . . [more]

Remember our discussions about tendering Wikipedia as evidence in court? Seems it’s been happening for some time, and judges are not amused.

The Globe reports today that Federal Court judges are taking issue with the practice of immigration officials who have entered Wikipedia entries in immigration proceedings,

“Wikipedia is an internet Encyclopedia which anyone with Internet access can edit,” wrote one exasperated Federal Court judge, criticizing Ottawa’s filings in a case to remove a family of Turkish asylum seekers.

“It is an open-source reference with no editorial control,” scoffed another judge, as he took federal agents to task for consulting

. . . [more]

This is a follow-up to my previous post and the discussion that ensued on Quebec Government Bill Upholds Gender Equality and Secularism

I understand that the Ethics Committee of the Benchers of the Law Society of BC are meeting today and are considering whether it is ethical for a lawyer to draft a will for a client whom he or she has never met in person.

This question is interesting to me because Heritage Law currently offers simple estate planning services to clients entirely over the internet through a secure online portal on our firm web site. We received approval to do so from the Law Society of BC in January.

In the interest of hopefully avoiding a precedent such as the . . . [more]

The Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University has a new Dean, Kimberly (Kim) Brooks. What follows is from the official announcement:

Professor Brooks graduated with a BA from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Laws from UBC and a Master of Laws (Taxation) from York University, Osgoode Hall Law School. Between UBC and York she worked for the firm Stikeman Elliott as a tax lawyer. Presently she holds the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in the Law of Taxation in the Faculty of Law at McGill University, having previously held appointments in the Faculties of Law at UBC and . . . [more]

Interesting coincidence? Not sure who is the real threat to privacy.

Yesterday, privacy regulators from 10 countries (Canada, Israel, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand and the U.K.) attacked search giant Google for allegedly lax privacy practices.

And yesterday, Google started publishing stats on requests from law enforcement agencies from around the world to hand over private user data:

“Again, the vast majority of these requests are valid and the information needed is for legitimate criminal investigations. However, data about these activities historically has not been broadly available. We believe that greater transparency will lead

. . . [more]

I am reasonably sure the number of Farmville updates appearing on Facebook News feeds is approaching the number of spam emails sent each day. We need to stop this madness! I say this with all due respect to my friends who are clearly Farmville addicts.

There is an easy way to prevent Farmville updates appearing on your Wall. Simply put your mouse over the item, and click the Hide Farmville button. This will block Farmville updates from appearing on your wall.

Note that this works for updates from any other annoying Facebook apps like Mafia Wars or Birthday Gifts. It . . . [more]

Kathy English discusses this past weekend in The Star some of the issues of online commenting which have been raised here recently,

Would you be willing to express your opinions under your real names?

Can news organizations find a way to compel online commenters to speak out under their true identities? Should the media ever unmask anonymous commenters? Can the courts force them to do so? Should they?

Most importantly, is the end of online anonymity near?

These are important questions now under consideration in news organizations and courts throughout North America. This week, a Nova Scotia judge ordered both

. . . [more]

I interrupt regularly scheduled programming to wander us a little off course. I’ve come across a collection of three dozen stunning photographs of what I’m now referring to as the volcano in Iceland. These are amazing shots of not just the smoke and fire but also Icelanders and farms in the vicinity of the eruption. The work of Belgian photographer Olivier Vandeginste, these are well worth a five minute break for viewing. With apologies to M. Vanderginste, I offer you a small portion of one of these beauties below, just to tempt you to the originals.

UPDATE: It’s been pointed . . . [more]

Witty not being an adjective often used to describe legal judgments, it is worthwhile to further highlight a judgment that some might have seen in the Globe and Mail: “Witty judgment wins out in lottery dispute”.

(2009) 98 O.R. (3d) 432 is well worth your time to read, I don’t want to give anything away so I will just add that Justice Quinn makes excellent use of footnotes. . . . [more]