The Digitization of Section 8 of the Charter: Reform or Revolution?

This paper asks whether the technological changes wrought by the digital revolution require concomitantly dramatic changes to the Supreme Court of Canada’s section 8 jurisprudence. The author answers “no”. While technological change inevitably influences constitutional interpretation and application, the foundation set out by the Court in digital (and other) section 8 cases over the past two decades provides the conceptual and doctrinal tools needed to achieve reasonable accommodations between competing privacy and law enforcement interests in the digital era. The paper begins with a brief overview of the basic elements of section 8 law. Next, it chronologically surveys the Supreme Court’s existing “digital section 8” jurisprudence, that is, each decision that has addressed allegations that the state has violated section 8 in a digital realm. The next part distils three key doctrines from these cases that are likely to animate future digital section 8 decisions: (i) the notion that “computers are different”; (ii) the role of contract, statute and other exogenous norms in shaping privacy expectations over information obtained or held by third parties; and (iii) the application of the “biographical core” test to “low resolution” private information. While there is consensus as to the core meanings of each of these doctrines, to varying degrees each suffers from indeterminacy in application. The author the refore proposes refinements to minimize that indeterminacy. The following part examines, from both descriptive and prescriptive perspectives, how these doctrines played out in the Court’s most recent digital section 8 decision: R. v. Spencer

Taxation, Pregnancy, and Privacy

This Article frames a discussion of surrogacy within the context of existing income tax laws. A surrogate receives money for carrying and bearing a child. This payment is income by any definition, even if the surrogacy contract recites that it is a “reimbursement.” Cases and rulings on the income tax consequences of the sale of blood and human breast milk, as well as analogies to situations in which people are paid to wear advertising on their bodies, support the conclusion that a surrogate recognizes taxable income, although the Internal Revenue Service has never stated so. For tax purposes, the reproductive labor of surrogacy is “work.” This Article considers, and then rebuts, privacy-based objections to a surrogacy tax. Disclosure of income from surrogacy is a reasonable consequence of the freedom to engage in that activity. The federal government should take steps to increase tax compliance

Fully compliant? : a study of data protection policy in UK public organisations

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Surveillance, Privacy and Security

This volume examines the relationship between privacy, surveillance and security, and the alleged privacy–security trade-off, focusing on the citizen’s perspective. Recent revelations of mass surveillance programmes clearly demonstrate the ever-increasing capabilities of surveillance technologies. The lack of serious reactions to these activities shows that the political will to implement them appears to be an unbroken trend. The resulting move into a surveillance society is, however, contested for many reasons. Are the resulting infringements of privacy and other human rights compatible with democratic societies? Is security necessarily depending on surveillance? Are there alternative ways to frame security? Is it possible to gain in security by giving up civil liberties, or is it even necessary to do so, and do citizens adopt this trade-off? This volume contributes to a better and deeper understanding of the relation between privacy, surveillance and security, comprising in-depth investigations and studies of the common narrative that more security can only come at the expense of sacrifice of privacy. The book combines theoretical research with a wide range of empirical studies focusing on the citizen’s perspective. It presents empirical research exploring factors and criteria relevant for the assessment of surveillance technologies. The book also deals with the governance of surveillance technologies. New approaches and instruments for the regulation of security technologies and measures are presented, and recommendations for security policies in line with ethics and fundamental rights are discussed. This book will be of much interest to students of surveillance studies, critical security studies, intelligence studies, EU politics and IR in general. A PDF version of this book is available for free in open access via www.tandfebooks.com. It has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 3.0 license.