Mining the Digital Gold Rush: The Legal (L)ore around France's Data-Mining Tax

With markets in real property, personal property, and intellectual property quite cornered, the future-savvy lawyer might consider their cutting-edge cousin, if France's data-mining tax proposal has its way: what could be termed existential property*, courtesy of Google, Facebook, Amazon, and the like. Or rather, courtesy of their users, whose digitally collected personal data may be wholesale […]

Are Instagram Users Starting to See the Big Picture?

What follows is a cautionary tale, reminding users that it might be wise to read the terms presented on your computer screen before clicking “I Agree”.

Defriend: Privacy Concerns are back in the Newsfeed

An Austrian student studying law in Silicon Valley has raised serious flags about Facebook’s lack of adherence to privacy law and disclosure regulation.

Bullying and Balancing Rights in AB v Bragg Communications

Recently Canada is engaged in national dialogue about online bullying in the wake of Amanda Todd’s suicide. One aspect being discussed is what role the law should play in protecting victims of bullying.  Should new legislation be enacted, like the NDP’s proposal for a national anti-bullying strategy or should changes to the law be left […]

Israeli Entrepreneur Changes Name to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook Dislikes This

In response to threats of legal action from Facebook, an Israeli entrepreneur has legally changed his name to Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook’s So-Called Privacy Boost Gets Few “Likes”

Jennifer O’Dell is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall and Denise Brunsdon is a social media writer and researcher. In the wake of GooglePlus’ (Google+) strong launch with its much-lauded privacy settings, Facebook recently announced their new contribution to Internet privacy in social networking. For those hoping that these changes signal an important ideological shift […]

Canada: No Safe Haven for Internet Spammers

Dan Whalen is a JD Candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School Earlier this month, a Québec court upheld a 2008 US judgment ordering self-styled “online marketer” Adam Guerbuez to pay over $1-billion (CAD) to Facebook, Inc. Guerbuez, a Montreal resident, was tried in absentia in California for allegedly pilfering Facebook users’ personal information to flood […]

Facebook's new plain language privacy policy

George Nathanael is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. On October 29, Facebook published a new privacy policy that it hopes will allow users to better understand the uses of the information supplied to the website. Elliot Schrage (VP of Global Communications, Marketing and Public Policy), introduced the new policy on Facebook’s blog […]

Facebook remembers deceased users

Billy Barnes is a JD candidate at the University of Toronto. Did you know that Facebook will 'memorialize' a person's profile after their death? Until recently, not many people did. The feature has existed for a few years now, but it received minimal media attention until a member of the Facebook team posted about it […]

Facebook and Online Privacy: A game of cat and mouse

Virgil Cojocaru is a JD candidate at Osgoode Hall Law School. You are shopping online, surfing on Blockbuster. The next day one of your friends on Facebook messages you, “hey Dave, nice choice in movies!” What has just happened here? Some might argue this is just amicable banter between close friends. Others might quickly point […]