Privacy Archives - Barry Sookman

Technology Law Updates from the CAN-TECH Conference

Barry Sookman Technology Law tLK

I was pleased to speak on October 24 at the Canadian Technology Law Association (CAN-TECH) Fall Conference in Toronto. CAN-TECH is the national association representing Canadian technology lawyers. I participated in a panel alongside Catherine Lovrics (Marks & Clerk LLP) and Jenna Wilson (Wilson Lue LLP), moderated by Lisa Wallace (WeirFoulds LLP).

My talk was a follow up and update to my annual Toronto Computers Lawyers Group “Year in Review” of technology law talk. My talk covered a wide range of topics with a special focus on artificial intelligence, technology and online contracting, privacy and copyright.…

Tiktok privacy Canada

Tiktok Privacy Decision: A Major Compliance Warning

You may be in for an unpleasant surprise when you read the September 23, 2025 findings of the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (OPC) in PIPEDA Findings # 2025-003. The decision, issued jointly with the OPC counterparts in Quebec, British Columbia, and Alberta involving Tiktok, is easily the most significant privacy enforcement action in Canada in years. It provides important guidance on what the federal and provincial privacy commissioners (the “Offices”) expect under privacy laws including with respect to minors and to obtain consents to collect and use personal information.…

Right to be forgotten

Canada Right to Be Forgotten and Search Engines

Late last month, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada (“OPC” or “Commissioner”) released a report of its findings holding that search engines like Google can be required to de-list personal information about an individual. While the decision generally aligns Canada’s federal privacy law PIPEDA with the right of erasure or “right to be forgotten” under the GPDP, the UK GPDR, and Quebec’s updated privacy law, the decision illustrates some problematic aspects of PIPEDA and the Commissioner’s interpretation of this important privacy law.…

Sookman it year in review talk presentation

Technology Law: A Comprehensive Annual Review 2024-2025

Computer and IT Law: The Year in Review 2024–2025 – Toronto Computer Lawyers Group Presentation

On June 19, 2025, I had the pleasure of presenting my annual “Computer and IT Law: The Year in Review” to the Toronto Computer Lawyers Group. This year’s talk covered legal developments across a wide range of topics including artificial intelligence, copyright, social media, privacy, cybersecurity, blockchain, online contracting and eCommerce.

As in past years, I prepared a comprehensive written paper to accompany the presentation.…

Clearview jurisdiction

Internet Jurisdiction in Clearview AI Case Analysis

As previously reported, the Alberta Court of Kings Bench just released an important decision in Clearview AI Inc v Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2025 ABKB 287. My prior blog post focused on the court’s decision holding that portions of Alberta’s privacy law, PIPA, violated the Charter’s freedom of expression protections. In this post I focus on the part of the decision in which the court found that Clearview AI was subject to PIPA. In particular, I discuss the statement by the court that PIPA applies even to the collection, use and disclosure of personal information about an Alberta resident that takes place wholly outside of Canada.…

Clearview AI and PIPA

Privacy Internet Scraping and Canadian Privacy Law: Clearview AI

The Alberta Court of Kings Bench just released a bombshell decision in Clearview AI Inc v Alberta (Information and Privacy Commissioner), 2025 ABKB 287. In short, it found that sections 12, 17, and 20 of the Personal Information Protection Act, (PIPA), unjustifiably infringed section 2(b) of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In so ruling, it essentially found that PIPA’s blanket restrictions against collecting publicly available information from the Internet without obtaining individuals’ consent were unconstitutional.…

Privacy protection for IP addresses

CPPA
Privacy

Privacy of IP Addresses: Understanding the Supreme Court Ruling in R. v. Bykovets

In R. v. Bykovets, 2024 SCC 6, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that for Charter of Rights purposes, a person being investigated by the police has a reasonable expectation of privacy in an IP address in the possession of a third person, in this case a payment processor, even when not linked to any personally identifying information. The decision and its importance is explained in a blog post written by my colleagues Dan Glover, Andrew Matheson, Connor Bildwell, Greer Hope and I on the McCarthy Tetrault TechLex blog.…

Minister Champagne and AIDA

Government proposals to amend CPPA and AIDA: the good, the bad, and the challenges ahead Part 1

In response to criticisms about Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act, 2022, and especially criticisms related to AIDA, the Government disclosed amendments it proposes to make while the Bill is before the INDU Committee. This blog focuses on the proposed amendments and, in particular, the areas where the Minister’s proposed amendments have helped to move the Bill in the right direction or have failed to address or failed adequately to address criticisms of the Bill.

I first provide some background explaining the genesis of the amendments and then provide an analysis of the amendments.…

Search engines and privacy

Legality of search engines and AI systems under PIPEDA and CPPA: Google v Privacy Commissioner

The Federal Court of Appeal just released an important opinion in Google LLC v. Canada (Privacy Commissioner) 2023 FCA 200, holding that Google cannot rely on the journalistic exception in PIPEDA to operate legally in Canada. The decision is a frustrating one because it fails to resolve whether PIPEDA’s restrictions on Google and other search engines are consistent with the Charter and if not, how search engines and artificial intelligence systems can operate legally in Canada. These important questions are unlikely to be resolved soon under the OPC’s ill conceived reference process.…

Digital Charter Implementation Act and CPPA

CPPA
Privacy

CPPA: problems and criticisms – automated decision making

Canada is planning to revamp its comprehensive privacy law by repealing the existing comprehensive privacy law, PIPEDA, and by enacting Bill C-27, the Digital Charter Implementation Act (“DCIA”) to enact the Consumer Privacy Protection Act (CPPA), Personal Information and Data Protection Tribunal Act (PIDTA), and Artificial Intelligence and Data Act (AIDA). Bill C-27 replaced Bill C-11 (the former drafts of the CPPA and PIDTA). While the DCIA attempts to rectify some of the criticisms with Bill C-11, many of the problems remain and problems have emerged in the new Bill.…

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