RSS FeedI Spy with my Little Eye Something that is a Tort
The B.C. Supreme Court has awarded damages to a Vancouver woman whose landlord installed, without notice, a hidden video camera in the hallway outside of her suite.
According to the ruling judge, Justice Paul Walker, at issue in the case was the competing rights of the two parties: the tenant’s ‘right to quiet enjoyment’, including the right to ‘reasonable privacy’, as entitled by Section 28 of the Residential Tenancy Act, and the landlord’s right to “protect its property and its obligation to protect the interests of other tenants in a residential apartment building.”
In his ruling, Justice Paul Walker wrote,
As far as I am aware, there is no reported decision in Canada dealing with the issue.
Without a direct precedent or evidence as to the actual damages caused, the judge awarded the plaintiff a nominal amount of $3,500 plus court costs in compensation.
Ms. Heckert, the plaintiff, testified that she found it “very creepy” and an invasion of her privacy to have the video camera installed outside her suite.
It is clear from the video shown to me that any person watching the video images from the 12th-floor camera is able to see a very close-up and detailed image of anyone entering and exiting Ms. Heckert’s suite,
Justice Walker said.
This view is quite intrusive of personal privacy.
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)
