Almost a month ago, Google announced some changes to their Terms of Service, including something that caused quite the hubbub, shared endorsements. You’ve got just a few days left to take action to avoid seeing your face in Google Ads. Well, unless you want to, you narcissist. Let’s take a good look at the new Terms of Service. What other fun stuff did Google put in?
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That’s it for isoHunt :(
Back in March of this year we wrote “isoHunt is toast“. We were speaking figuratively at the time. Well now we can say it literally – isoHunt is toast. Well, not literally in the sense of the delicious breakfast food, but in the sense that it is over, done, kaput, closed forever. Off to the great website resting place in the sky, where it will party with AltaVista and GeoCities. We haz a sad, but we knew this was coming.
Wherein I correct my own (100% accurate) statements made to the media
Two media titans talk about the internet
So yesterday Global News published an article about CSEC and Brazilian spying. It includes a shitload of quotes from some internet lawyer named Allen Mendelsohn. Boy that guy is an idiot. Allow me to correct some of what he said.
The CRTC just dumped 262 pages on me to read
One of the many helpful infographics in the CRTC report
So the CRTC today released their 2013 Communications Monitoring Report. I don’t know what that is either, but you the taxpayer paid for it, so someone should read it. Well I guess it has to be me. The PDF report is 262 pages??? Fuck me. I think I’ll just read the internet parts.
We won’t be seeing The Zuck in a Montreal courtroom
Last week a decision came out of a Montreal courtroom that will deny us the joy of possibly going to see some lawyer grill Mark Zuckerberg on the stand about money and Facebook. We haz a sad. That would have been awesome.
Tour the interwebz with a lawyer as your guide
As the summer winds down, we’ve been feeling kind of philosophical. What does it all mean, and all that. As a practicing lawyer, I tend to focus on the little picture. We’ve got a problem, it relates to one thing, we try to solve it. FOCUS, dammit. That translates to the way I’ve written here at AM.com. A new piece of legislation passes, an interesting court case comes out, some government body releases a report, and we write about the minute details of a very small slice of law and the internet. We’ve never really looked at the big picture and the big issues. Until now.
Bell has a deficient privacy policy? I am SHOCKED. SHOCKED, I tell you
The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada has just released the first results of their investigation into online privacy policies, as part of the Global Privacy Enforcement Network Internet Privacy Sweep, whatever the hell that is. The OPC found some interesting stuff. As they say in their blog post, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Major Canadian corporations with crappy privacy policies? Well obviously they need to hire a decent internet lawyer. (call me!)
Come to Quebec and sue Apple
A few weeks ago a decision came out of a Montreal courtroom that could end up landing you some of that sweet, sweet Apple cash. You know, if you are into that sort of thing. Do you own an iPhone or iPad and live in Quebec? Continue reading!
Internet surveillance: here’s what you should really be worried about
They are watching us. Whether you spend too much time on sites like https://www.maturepornvideos.xxx/, or you’re too busy trying to uncover some of the governments deepest, darkest secrets, apparently they’re watching us. That’s all we’ve heard for the last couple of weeks. And over that time, many people (ok, like one guy on Twitter) have asked me my opinion, as an alleged expert on internet legal issues. In fear the government was reading me, I have been twiddling my thumbs for a week. Screw it, let’s do this thing. And you may be surprised at my reaction.
You’ve been served… by private message on Torontojungle.com
When you want to sue someone on the internet, simply finding them to serve them documents can be a real pain in the ass. But now lawyers like me will have a new tool in their arsenal thanks (?) to Brian Burke. Service by… message board? Ok then.
Some thoughts on online defamation because apparently I am an expert now
If you have read the news in the last couple of weeks, or turned on CBC radio, or listened to talk radio, you may have read some quotes from me or heard the dulcet tones of my voice. I have been media whoring like, well, a media whore. Last week it was the Brian Burke lawsuit. This week it was the sad story of the British Columbia teacher who was totally screwed by his ex-girlfriend online and is still suffering for it. These cases have brought to light the messy ugly side of the internet. Or as some people have argued, a terrible overreaction in the Brian Burke case. Let’s use these cases to talk about online defamation, what you should know about it, and the effects on you as both a potential plaintiff and defendant, you cocksucking whore (see what i did there?).
Happy World Intellectual Property Day: Confessions of an IP thief
Did you know today was World Intellectual Property Day? It’s ok, neither did I until a few hours ago. And it is ostensibly my job! We should get a cake or something. Anyway, I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about (ramble on about) Intellectual Property (IP) in general and why it’s important, while telling you how I regularly violate IP law online. Whoops.
Allen
Mendelsohn
is me.
I am a lawyer specializing in internet law working out of Montreal, though sometimes I do it in front of the U.S. Capitol. That should tell you what you need to know about internet law in Canada. I also warp young legal minds at the Faculty of Law at McGill.
More about me