Police Access to Recordings of in-Home Computer “assistants”
A lot of people now have computers they can talk to and get answers from – Siri, Alexa, Cortona, etc – not to mention interactive talking dolls. A man in Arkansas was recently charged with murdering...
View ArticleMay a Plaintiff Compel a Defendant’s Lawyer to Identify His/her Client?
A U.S. court has ordered a lawyer for a defendant in a defamation action to identify his client. Could this be done in Canada? Is it routine? I know that there is Canadian case law on requiring...
View ArticleEnding the Signature Fetish?
A man was injured driving a go-kart at a track in Saskatchewan. He sued the owners of the track. The owners moved to dismiss the action because the plaintiff had waived their liability on an electronic...
View ArticleData From Pacemaker Used in Prosecution
A man in Ohio was charged with arson and insurance fraud after data from his pacemaker did not support his story about how his house burned down. The evidence from the pacemaker was taken on a warrant....
View ArticleWhat if Your Personal Digital Assistant Defames Somebody?
We recently had a discussion about police access to the recordings made by in-home digital assistants like Amazon’s Alexa and its (her?) ilk. Now our focus turns to the actions of these devices if they...
View ArticleIs a Docusign E-Signature an Original for the Purpose of a Court Rule?
If a court or regulator allows e-filing but requires the filer to retain an original signed document, can that original itself be electronic? A bankruptcy court in California recently issued sanctions...
View ArticleMay Lawyers Accept Payment in Bitcoin?
A U.S. colleague with a technology practice was recently asked to take payment for her legal services in Bitcoin. She is not sure she has the right to do so. What about in Canada? Would any law society...
View ArticleTexting at the Wheel: Should Police Be Able to Examine Your Phone?
New York State is considering legislation to require drivers involved in auto accidents to allow the police to inspect their mobile phones for signs of recent activity. Presumably signs of such...
View ArticleUNCITRAL Adopts Model Law on Electronic Transferable Records
UNCITRAL has now adopted a model law on electronic transferable records. See the press release below. The full text will be available online shortly at the URL shown at the end of the document....
View ArticleCrossing Borders With Digital Devices
Lots of lawyers have been worried about having their digital devices inspected at the U.S. border in recent years, and more so under the current administration – but there are other countries that are...
View Article“Internet Separation”– the Wave of the (Secure) Future?
To reduce the risk of hackers coming into government database through the Internet, the Government of Singapore has required all public service computers to be cut off from the Internet. Public...
View ArticleAre Social Media Posts by Politicians Official Documents?
The US Department of Justice has declared that President Trump’s tweets are official statements of the President – at least in one case. In another, mentioned in the same ABA story, it is saying that...
View ArticleStudent Access to the Exams They Have Written
The Court of Justice of the EU has held that the “examination script” i.e. the answers to examination questions, constitutes the personal information of the student, and therefore it must be made...
View ArticleVideos With Fake Faces – What Legal Remedy?
Professor Eric Goldman of UC Santa Clara writes about new technology that allows adept editors to put someone’s face on a video of someone else. That can produce comic results, but it can also be a...
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Simon Fodden (1944 – 2018)
It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that our beloved Slaw founder, Simon Fodden, passed away on February 10th, 2018. Simon had been fighting cancer for the past four years, and died...
View ArticleWhen Does a Technical Standard Become a Legal Standard of Care?
The Guardian reports us that the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is close to adopting a new authentication standard that can replace passwords. This would be some kind of “who you are” (biometric) or...
View ArticleDo You Need to Know You Are Speaking With a Robot?
You will probably have heard that Google has developed a system by which a machine can make phone calls to humans, notably to make reservations for hotels and restaurants (and what more human an...
View ArticleShould Mandatory CLE Require Technology in Particular?
Some states in the US, notably now including North Carolina and Florida, require that part of one’s mandatory continuing legal education include education on techology. Florida’s rule requires three...
View ArticleWould It Be Good to Get Rid of Cash?
The Guardian has an article about the number of businesses in the U.K. that are refusing to accept cash in payment, notably for food and drink, and services. The article and the comments to it point...
View ArticleDevices Gone Wild III: Smart Home Devices Used for Harassment
The American Bar Journal reports that some people are harassing their spouses by remote manipulation of smart home devices, like thermostats, TVs and the like – turning the heat way up, or off, turning...
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