Articles 2023

Large-scale data breaches at corporations such as Facebook and Ashley Madison have underscored the need for organizations to re-evaluate their approaches to data security. If legal professionals use Privacy Impact Assessments to uncover organizations' privacy blind spots, they can then work to address those systemic issues using multi-disciplinary approaches.

On June 23, 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada took a step toward repairing the inequality of bargaining power between parties in the online consumer context. In Douez v Facebook, the Supreme Court ruled that Facebook’s forum selection clause in its “terms of use” was unenforceable because (1) it supported unequal bargaining power between consumers and companies and (2) there was a need to protect the privacy rights of social media users.

With the rise in the collection, use and disclosure of personal information and personal health information across organizations, the prevalence of privacy breaches, and the recognition of common law privacy torts in Ontario, organizations increasingly face legal, financial and reputational consequences from personal information handling practices. This article considers how this evolving area of law may inform an organization’s internal risk management program.

David Young summarizes his testimony before the the House of Commons Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics on its study of PIPEDA. Read on for David's submissions on consent, the PIPEDA enforcement framework, and how PIPEDA aligns with the forthcoming European General Data Protection Regulation.

Canadian Securities Administrators recently published the results of their review of cyber security disclosure and guidance on appropriate disclosure.

In its recent decision in RBC v. Trang, the Supreme Court of Canada provided guidance to financial institutions holding otherwise “highly sensitive” information on how to determine when that information is somewhat less sensitive, such that it can be disclosed.

in December 2016, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice released Patel v. Sheth, the next in a series of cases sprouting from the 2012 recognition of a tort of intrusion upon seclusion. While Patel is deeply planted in a messy matrimonial context the analysis and finding of an invasion of privacy is worth addressing from a business risk perspective as well.