Commencing January 1, 2019, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada will begin enforcing Guidelines for obtaining meaningful consent, which impose requirements and provide recommendations for private sector organizations to obtain legally valid consent for the collection, use and disclosure of personal information. The Guidelines specify requirements for the form and content of privacy policies/notices and for clear […] Read more
BLG is organizing a privacy luncheon on September 27th in Toronto. Privacy and data protection continue to be top business and legal risks for Canadian organizations. Recent legal developments impose significant new restrictions and requirements for the handling of personal information, and expose Canadian organizations to potentially substantial risks and liabilities. I will be presenting […] Read more
BLG organise un séminaire sur le respect de la vie privée et la protection des renseignements personnels le mercredi 26 septembre 2018 à notre bureau de Montréal. Le respect de la vie privée et la protection des renseignements personnels figurent toujours parmi les plus grands risques commerciaux et juridiques auxquels sont exposées les entreprises canadiennes. Je […] Read more
Cyber incident response activities often involve the creation of forensic investigation reports that might be protected by legal privilege, depending on the purpose of the reports and the circumstances surrounding their creation and use. The 2018 Ontario Superior Court decision in Kaplan v. Casino Rama Services illustrates how an organization can lose the right to […] Read more
Business risks resulting from consumer privacy concerns are on the rise. Last week, Facebook and Twitter reported second quarter results which revealed that both companies lost a significant number of active users due to privacy and data protection concerns. Their stock price plummeted by approximately 20 per cent each, resulting in a combined loss in market […] Read more
In its most recent report of findings entitled “Company’s re-use of millions of Canadian Facebook user profiles violated privacy law,” the Office of the Privacy Commissioner (the “OPC”) dealt with the often confusing issue of personal information that is publicly available and confirmed its view that Facebook profiles that are set to public are not considered “publicly […] Read more
BLG is very proud to welcome Élisa Henry as partner in our Privacy and Data Protection Group. She brings a strong European expertise, with a focus on the recently enacted General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”). This will offer a distinctive advantage for our clients with global operations. Élisa is a graduate of McGill University where […] Read more
On June 28, 2018, the California legislature passed a new privacy law, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), which will come into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA could impact Canadian organizations doing business in California, the world’s fifth largest economy (with a larger population than Canada), even if they have no physical […] Read more
On July 11, 2018, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission issued notices of violation under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (commonly known as “CASL”) against two online advertising businesses for allegedly aiding the installation of malicious computer programs through the distribution of online advertising. The enforcement action illustrates how CASL imposes liability on an organization that aids […] Read more
The Government of Canada has responded to the February 2018 report by the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (“ETHI” or “Committee”) on the review of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (“PIPEDA”). As we summarized in a previous bulletin, the ETHI’s report, entitled “Towards Privacy by Design,” discussed many topics and provided […] Read more