March 25 2011 - R. v. Cole: Employees have qualified expectation of privacy in computers
The Ontario Court of Appeal in R. v. Cole rendered its decision earlier this week in an appeal involving the privacy rights of a high school teacher charged with possession of child pornography. The court found that, while the discovery and investigation of the images in question by a school technician, the school principle, and the school board did not violate the appellant's rights, the subsequent search and seizure by the police did.
Given that it deals with some of the complex issues arising out of the use of technology for both work and personal purposes, this decision is worth noting for employers.
Also in this issue is an overview of a two recent studies examining the costs associated with data breaches in Canada and the U.S.