Information Privacy and Government Silos
- November 29, 2020
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
Gone are the days when hard boiled detectives sat at their desks in smokey offices banging out reports on a Remington typewriter immortalized in film noir. In the digital world law enforcement now regularly hoovers personal information from smartphones, computers…
Border Searches Ruled Unconstitutional
- November 15, 2020
- Heather Ferg
Canadian constitutional law recognizes that international travellers have a reduced expectation of privacy when crossing the border. Border officers have extraordinary powers to question, detain, search and seize that are grounded in the right of Canada to protect its national…
The Sandworm Conspiracy
- October 31, 2020
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
On October 15, 2020, a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, indicted six military officers in Unit 74455 of the Russian Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) for worldwide hacking campaigns designed to advance Russia’s strategic interests. The hacker team, known as…
Facial Recognition: The People Push Back
- October 15, 2020
- Heather Ferg
Fully-automated identification technology can undermine personal privacy and public anonymity in an instant. Combined with other tools of mass surveillance, it bridges the gap between the physical and digital worlds. Despite serious privacy and human rights concerns, the use of…
Privacy and Wi-Fi Location Data
- September 30, 2020
- Clayton Rice, K.C.
The Internet and the smartphone are essential to meaningful participation in modern life. But accessing the Internet often requires using Wi-Fi networks, particularly by students, travellers, businesses and low-income people. The use of Wi-Fi generates precise location data that reveals…