Technology & Privacy Law
The legal challenges that live at the intersection of law and technology: privacy compliance, data governance, online platforms, and the regulation of life on the internet.
Scope of work
- Privacy compliance (PIPEDA & provincial)
- Website terms, privacy policies & consent
- Data-breach response & reporting
- Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL)
- E-commerce & online platform terms
- Regulatory consulting & government scrutiny
- Online content, defamation & takedowns
- AI governance & data-use review
The internet has reshaped commerce, expression, and risk in equal measure. For the businesses that operate online, the law has moved from an afterthought to a precondition: regulators, customers, and counterparties now expect demonstrable compliance, and the cost of getting privacy wrong is measured in penalties, breach notifications, and lost trust.
Canadian privacy law begins with the federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), which governs how private-sector organizations collect, use, and disclose personal information, and which is enforced by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Layered on top are provincial regimes and, for public bodies and their service providers, Nova Scotia’s freedom-of-information and personal-information statutes. We help organizations map what data they hold, build consent and retention practices that meet the standard, and respond when something goes wrong, including the breach-reporting obligations that now carry real teeth.
Commercial activity online carries its own rules. Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) regulates commercial electronic messages and the consent behind them; e-commerce, affiliate, and platform arrangements require terms of service, privacy policies, and disclosures drafted to allocate risk and survive scrutiny. The firm prepares and reviews these documents, including privacy policies, terms and conditions, and affiliate and vendor agreements, with the goal of minimizing a client’s exposure to regulatory action before it ever begins.
When a client does find itself the subject of government inquiry, defence becomes the work. Derek Brett has acted for online enterprises on the development of their contractual and website terms, on corporate and regulatory questions, and in the defence of companies facing government regulation and civil claims, and has commented in national and local media on the regulation of internet enterprises. As data-driven products and artificial intelligence raise new questions, that same instinct, to anticipate the regulator and document the basis for every use of data, guides how the firm advises.
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.