David Canton is a business lawyer and trade-mark agent with a practice focusing on technology issues and technology companies.
DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – February 26, 2005
Many have fallen prey to the misconception they are more likely to have their identities stolen from their online computer than through any other means.
The truth is most criminals still get their information from offline sources.
CNet has an article titled Molly to handhelds: just die, already.
It makes the point that the Palm operating system is being overtaken by the Windows Pocket PC system. I have used both, and prefer the Pocket PC (or Windows Mobile) system.
The second point is that the pda market will decline rapidly as those functions are being built into smartphones.
I agree with that too – but there is a problem – smartphone products are not yet available in Canada.
The Audiovox SMT5600 mentioned in the article, for example, is GSM and should be useable on the Rogers cell network.
Its frustrating that we can’t yet get those – and seems odd for a country that is among the leading countries in the adoption of communications technology.
The Canadian Competition Bureau announced this week that it has just completed a 2 day Internet surveillance and enforcement program targeting bogus product claims found on the Internet.
The good news is that it was done in co-operation with 76 government agencies including 25 from member countries of the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN).
For more information about Project Fairweb, read my February 5 London Free Press article – posted to this blog on February 7.
One of my pet peeves is “sledgehammer to kill a fly” laws. In other words, laws that can cause far more damage than the wrong it is supposed to right.
In my view the US Broadcast flag is one of those. It is intended as an anti-piracy mechanism for digital TV, but many fear it will do far more harm than good.
The rule said every product sold in the US after July 2005 that can receive digital TV must be able to recognize a “broadcast flag.”
An appeals court is now questioning whether the FCC had authority to do that.
A Toronto Star article entitled Telecoms feel heat on wiretaps talks about the upcoming draft legislation that will require telecom service providers to take certain steps to make information available to police.
No one wants to impair police investigations into criminal activity – but as with most things, balance is key.
One concern is the cost of compliance. Ultimately it is the consumer that pays.
And it is not good if the practical result is to slow advances for Canadian service providers.
The article says the government is expected to consult with service providers, equipment manufacturers, and the Federal Privacy Commissioner in March.
This could get interesting.
DAVID CANTON – For the London Free Press – February 19, 2005
Agribusiness and farming is not what it used to be. With today’s technology and tools, farmers can save time and manipulate their crops in a way that was considered unimaginable 10 years ago.
With the advent of genetic engineering and genetic modification, companies such as Monsanto have given farmers an edge on crop production.
Or have they?
David Fraser’s PIPEDA and Canadian Privacy law blawg mentions a case where a nurse used patient information to perpetrate an identity theft and obtain credit.
This shows that internal privacy and security breaches are as important to consider as external ones.
Slashdot refers to a BBC report about a burglar being caught on a webcam.
The wrinkle is that when the burgler suspected he was being watched, he stole the computer. It was too late though, as the computer had been programed to automatically send the webcam images by email whenever motion was detected. He was recently convicted.
The BBC article includes actual photos.
I have commented before how it is easy to get confused as to ones rights and responsibities when using open source software – primarily because there are so many different license versions.
ZDNet has an article saying that the Open Source Initiative is actively working on a proposal to reduce the number of open source licenses to 3 from the current 50 or more.
ITBusiness.ca has an article about a CIBC study entitled Are Canadian Entrepreneurs Ready for Retirement?
It talks about 2 trends that are interesting from a legal and IT perspective.
With a significant number of business owners approaching retirement, only a small number have succession plans in place. That’s bad news for those businesses and the economy. Lawyers and other professionals can help business owners come to grips with succession planning.
The second is that when these businesses become owned by a younger generation more familiar with technology, technology investment will increase.
Unless otherwise stated, all original material created by David Canton included in this blog is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
