Date: March 23, 2009. Kershman J. | Link

Motion requiring defendants to produce information identifying, or which could assist the plaintiffs in identifying, anonymous message board users on a site currently registered in Panama. Plaintiff argues for a liberal interpretation of Rule 76.03 (Simplified Procedure – Affidavit of Documents) and the duty to disclosure in Rule 30.01. Defendant relies on Irwin Toy (2002) to argue that the Plaintiff must present a prima facie case for disclosure. Court notes that in the case of Irwin Toy, the disclosure was being sought from a third party or non-party to the case, where here the information is sought from the defendant. The Defendant also relies on the FCC copyright infringement case BMG v. John Doe where the court sought to balance privacy rights against public interest. The Court observed that the recent case R. v. Wilson established that there was no reasonable expectation of privacy of one's IP address information (para 40). See Dan Michaluk's post on his privacy law blog.