With the advent of electronic records has come heightened concerns about breach of privacy (see “Has our obsession with privacy gone too far?”). One step beyond breach of privacy – particularly in the age of social media – is the potential for defamation. Defamation is the false or unjustified injury to the good reputation of  more...

Canada.com announced it this way: “World’s top tech fair opens under a cloud”. The clever headline drew on the buzz at the world’s largest information technology tradeshow and the coincident announcement by Google that 150,000 email accounts had been lost. Background: the CeBIT expo held this week in Hanover, Germany promoted the theme “Work and  more...

Your computer poses your greatest vulnerability to identity theft. Like so many powerful tools, the internet has significant capacity to be helpful, and to expose you to harm. Here are 6 common blunders to avoid as you manage the risk of consumer fraud and identity theft on the web: Assuming you’re protected when you’re not  more...

Most people don’t know it – but one of the greatest breaches of personal privacy – leading to social embarrassment or identity theft – can come by way of the office photocopier.  That’s because the hard drive can retain images of every document copied, and be available to whoever takes possession when the copier is  more...

In most Canadian crime rankings by city, you’d expect Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver to be at the top of the list.  But when it comes to online crime, a recent study* shows otherwise. Big cities tend to have diverse economic communities, and lower income areas spend less on computer hardware and internet connectivity.  Canada is  more...

How much risk with Twitter? – Earlier this month, Boris Johnson, the flamboyant mayor of London was riding his bicycle when he came upon a woman being threatened by a group of teen-aged girls, one of which was brandishing an iron bar. Mayor Johnson spontaneously scared off the attackers and escorted the victim to her  more...

This past week saw a report by the federal Privacy Commissioner in which the ubiquitous social networking site Facebook, was cited for violating Canada’s privacy laws.  Although the criticisms are seen by some as excessive and even contradictory, they represent a bureaucratic attempt to protect the 12 million Canadians currently using the site. What is  more...