I’m tired of talking to my computer screen. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not tired of meeting people over video and having two-way conversations. I’m a little tired of lecturing to my screen. This week was trying because I had double duty: The class at the law school and the CIPP/C training class we are offering at the IAPP. It’s a lot of me just yammering on at/to a screen that often doesn’t show the faces of the people I’m talking to.

The feedback is positive, though. My law school students and my CIPP/C students seem to be understanding the material we are covering and I do get the occasional question via the chat box to keep me on my toes.

The two classes overlapped this week as we were both covering private sector privacy laws. One of my favorite portions of the classes is when we discuss notable cases. I think many people like to learn by talking about real-world examples and things that happened in the past.

My list of notable cases from our private sector privacy law goes a bit like this:

• Eastmond (de novo application under the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act).
• Telus voice print case.
• TJX/Winners — over collection, driver’s license, indefinite retention periods.
• Abika/Accusearch — extraterritorial application of PIPEDA.
• SWIFT — Another extraterritorial application case that intertwines sharing data with foreign law enforcement.
• Facebook #1 — circa 2009 and the folks from CIPPIC that brought the matter forward.
• Facebook #2 — circa 2019 and still ongoing saga related to Cambridge Analytica.
• Google Sleep Apnea — limits of behavioral advertising.
• Bell Relevant Ads program — another limit on using data for marketing purposes.

Am I missing any of your favorites? Let me know and maybe we’ll get them into future curricula. Hopefully, soon enough we’ll all be learning about these cases in a setting where I can see the actual faces of those listening and can have the more natural, lively discussions that occur when talking about some of the truly interesting elements that have helped shape the direction of privacy here in Canada. And on that note, time to get away from this computer screen of mine before my eyes cross.