Secret lists
Tonda MacCharles writes:
Canada’s “no-fly” list took effect in June 2007, and almost everything about it – the number of names, the deletions, how it works – is classified. It is believed to contain 500 to 3,000 names.
Because there is no independent oversight of the program, it is up to the top Transport Canada bureaucrat to act as watchdog.
See-through body scanners are not as bad as they sound
According to media reports on Friday, the federal privacy commissioner approved the see-through airport body scanners. These machines show your naked body in Casper-the-ghost 3D on the security officer’s screen. Although the officer can easily see if you are a bikini model or a beer belly, the procedure is subject to restrictions and rules that create a good balance between security and privacy. Don’t be afraid of see-through scanners unless we hear some bad news about their health effects down the road.
The scanners are supposed to speed up and improve that irritating extra screening at the airport. So the first rule is they will scan you only if security officers select you for extra screening. The second rule is you still have the option of a physical pat-down. The scanners give travellers a choice between physical touching and having your x-ray nude body on the screen. If this is the case, then scanners don’t make your life more miserable. You are already in humiliating extra screening, where the officers had had the right to strip-search you even before the scanners were proposed.
The Canadian Air Transport Security Authority promised the privacy commissioner that the officer viewing your body on the screen will be in a separate room. That’s another restriction on security to protect your privacy. But it works only if that officer can’t learn your name or store the image of your body. Unless you have a gun on you or some plastic explosive in your shoes, the officers should not connect your personal information to the image or retain the image in their computers.
Airport see-through body scanners can speed up the humiliating extra screening. They give people who don’t like pat-downs a choice. And scanners seems to be an excellent security tool. As long as they are not required in addition to pat-downs and as long as officers can’t keep your personal information and images without probable cause, scanners seem to balance privacy with security well. Hopefully, you won’t need to go through extra screening, but if you do, the scanners may be just the way to breeze through it, especially if you are late for your flight.
Facebook and privacy
Ottawa takes on social media giant for violating Canada’s law
Law 101 for Health Care Professionals
Fourth post in a series on the First Annual Interprofessional Health Law Conference.
Elyse Sunshine of Gardiner Roberts provided health care professionals the basics of the regulatory scheme governing the health sector in Ontario.
Law is Cool – Podcast #9
Show Notes
Total running time 21:15
0:16 Jacob Kaufman and Omar Ha-Redeye introduce themselves.
0:44 Jacob and Omar discuss final exams.
2:10 Omar introduces Lisa Feinberg of UofO Law and the Canadian Interest and Public Policy Clinic (CIPPC), who is one of the law students that filed a complaint with the Privacy Commissioner over Facebook.
3:19 Lisa describes the 22 violations of PIPEDA that the students identified.
4:12 Lisa explains the effort that went into developing the project
5:01 Lisa tells us how the Privacy Commissioner creates and issues recommendations
5:50 Lisa relates the implications for Facebook users, even outside of Canada
7:39 Even though Lisa uses Facebook, she tells us how much more she learned about the site through the project.
9:11 Lisa expresses her interests in social networking, and how she got involved in the project.
11:23 Jacob shares some Facebook policies that demonstrate their attitude to privacy.
11:45 Jacob quotes James Grimmelman, who likens Facebook to a virus. Omar says it sounds like something out of The Matrix.
12:24 Omar introduces an interview with Khurrum Awan, complainant in a case against Maclean’s.
13:30 Khurrum describes the turnout at the Tribunal by members of the media, and the importance of independent coverage.
15:10 Khurrum explains the procedural elements of the Tribunal, when we can expect a decision, and where the case can potentially go from here.
16:32 Jacob talks about the different ways that law students apply their legal education towards advocacy work in real life.
17:08 Jacob shares some of the things he learned from the Facebook complaint, such as how applications can obtain your information without your explicit consent.
17:45 Jacob mentions Robert J. Sawyer’s theory in Maclean’s that notions of privacy are themselves outdated, and that we should have chips implanted in us at all times to track our movements.
18:40 Jacob mentions David Lat, a former American prosecutor who left the law to blog on Above the Law, and how he documented his weight-loss program online. Omar relates how this could be used in the potential trend of obesity lawsuits we could see in the future.
19:54 Jacob describes a New Brunswick case on the disclosure of Facebook materials, Knight v. Barrett, [2008] N.B.J. No. 102.
20:34 Omar and Jacob sign off.
(Look for an upcoming post on a recent Ontario decision regarding Facebook)

RSS Feed






































