Sony demonstrates continuing absurdity of click-wrap agreements

Sony has pushed out new terms of service for its PlayStation Gaming Network (PSN), the service that allows PS3 gamers to compete with others online.  You’ll probably recall that earlier this year, Sony suffered a security breach which resulted in the account details of 75 million customers of the PSN being compromised.  Following that breach, [...]

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British man jailed for ‘trolling’

Earlier this year, 25 year old Sean Duffy of Berkshire posted commentary and images on internet message boards and social networking websites mocking the deaths of several teenagers (of whom he had no prior knowledge). In internet parlance, this is often referred to as ‘trolling’ — attempting to elicit an angry reaction from an unknown [...]

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Secret GPS Surveillance to Prove Infidelity A-OK says NJ Court

Released this week by the appellate division of the New Jersey Superior Court is Villanova v. Innovative Investigations, Inc., in which the plaintiff claimed for invasion of privacy after his wife hired the defendants to track him after she suspected him of cheating on her. The defendants suggested that she install a GPS system in [...]

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The PATRIOT Act and the Risks of Storing Your Data in ‘the Cloud’

This week, executives at Microsoft admitted what many have long suspected — that non-Americans who store their information on Microsoft servers in ‘the cloud’ risk having the data turned over to American authorities by virtue of requests under the PATRIOT Act, even where the data is stored on non-American servers. Simply by virtue of being [...]

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No Invasion of Privacy Tort in Common Law: Ont. Superior Court

The Superior Court of Justice this week released Jones v. Tsige, 2011 ONSC 1475 (jones v tsige). In Jones, the plaintiff brought an action against the defendant for accessing her banking records improperly.  Both Jones and Tsige were employees at the Bank of Montreal (BMO), though they had never met in person.  Tsige was in [...]

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Mobile Phone Records Reveal Movement Details of German Politician

Malte Spitz, a member of Germany’s Green Party, sued his mobile phone provider to reveal what records it kept about him.  The records including tracking data based on rough triangulation from the nearest cell-phone towers.  Spitz then sent this information to Zeit Online, who combined it with Spitz’ personal blog and Twitter entries to produce an incredible [...]

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“I see you” – The Advent of Facial Recognition — Slaw

Simon Fodden offers a brief glimpse into the burgeoning field of consumer face recognition, including a rather amusing commercial from Viewdle, purveyors of the necessary technology.   You too can hang out with models in the rain in NYC, munching on some tacos from a truck (all the rage in Brooklyn last time I visited!), [...]

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Is Apple’s New Subscription Service Fair?

Apple has had enormous success over the last decade developing its iTunes ecosystem that surrounds the iPod, the iPhone, and as of last year, the iPad.  Based originally around the sale of music, the iTunes store expanded into “apps”, books, games, and now with the iPad, digital magazines and newspapers.  This transition has led to [...]

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Does becoming a CEO of a publicly-held company mean giving up privacy?

In the wake of this week’s news regarding Steve Jobs’ temporary leave from Apple for ‘health reasons’ (most likely connected to a liver transplant he had last year), the question has arisen as to the extent the exact details of his health problems ought to be made public.  He previously took leave for a claimed [...]

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Municipal electricity “safety checks” a pretext for warrantless searches of suspected grow-ops?

BC Hydro “safety officials” can enter any home to ascertain that the wiring etc is up to code.  But it seems that the majority of these inspections occur in residences with higher than usual electricity costs, which are often the sign of a marijuana grow-op inside.   While the officials do not need a warrant [...]

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