ARTICLE · 20 MARCH 2017

The Long Arm of Canadian Privacy Law

Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP

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Earlier this year, a Canadian trial court ruled that Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") has extra-territorial application and restricts the dissemination of personal information of Canadians ..

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Earlier this year, a Canadian trial court ruled that Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act ("PIPEDA") has extra-territorial application and restricts the dissemination of personal information of Canadians, even where the information is already public, and even though it is made available from outside Canada.

In A.T. v. Globe24h.com et al., 2017 FC 114, the Federal Court applied PIPEDA expansively and granted declaratory and injunctive relief against a Romanian national operating a Romanian-based website. At issue was personal information about identifiable individuals contained in publicly available Canadian court decisions that Globe24h.com had copied and republished without consent from the individuals involved in the underlying cases. In many cases, those decisions involved immigration, labour, family law, and bankruptcy matters, and contained sensitive personal information about those involved. Globe24h.com allowed the republished

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