Although the media has a vital role in maintaining the open court principle by disseminating news of judicial hearings to the public and informing them of legal issues, the Charter does not give the media greater rights than those enjoyed by the public…

They recently released PIPEDA and Your Practice: A Privacy Handbook for Lawyers. Other reports of interest include:

• Electronic Disclosure of Personal Information in the Decisions of Administrative Tribunals – What should administrative tribunals consider when contemplating Internet publication of their decisions? February 26, 2010

• A Matter of Trust: Integrating Privacy and Public Safety in the 21^st Century November 16, 2010

The Perils of Social Media Under the Laws of the United States and Canada: A Cautious Tale for Lawyers and Clients
Connie Crosby, Slaw, August 8, 2011

The Perils of Social Media – Should You Quit the Internet?
Omar Ha-Redeye, Slaw, August 8, 2011

August 5, 1:30 P.M. Court Technology Showcase: New Applications for You and Your Court sponsored by the Judicial Division.

2:00 P.M. Collaborative Justice Makes Cent$: Cost-Effective Interdisciplinary Courts in Canada and the U.S. sponsored by Commission on Homelessness and Poverty or the session on The Restructuring of the Americas: How Insolvency Courts in Canada, Mexico and the United States Are Reshaping Business sponsored by the Section of Litigation

3:15 P.M. CSI Toronto: The Role of the Court in an Age of Developing Science & Technology Judicial Division

August 6, 1:00 P.M. Friend is Now a Verb: Judicial Ethics and the New Social Media Judicial Division

August 7, 2:00 P.M. Current Crisis in Court Funding: Efficiency, Effectiveness, Accountability, and Education sponsored by Office of the President – I have noticed from monitoring a number of US blogs that this is a real driver to adopt technology to streamline services so there may be some innovative solutions identifed.

A complete summary of sessions can be found in the program. For the Judicial Division session, go to page 156 of the program.

• Review of cases since October 2010 as monitored by Wired;
• Warrantless GPS monitoring as reported by EFF;
• EFF involvement in cases related to copyright issues before the Supreme Court – sale of first right and foreign authored public domain works.

And from other US court levels and international jurisdictions, EFF provides the following news items:

• Using work computers for personal use;
• Ban on publishing distressing images;
• ISP filtering in Australia.