There’s an article below that covers David Fraser’s op-ed arguing against the right to be forgotten in Canada. It’s a thought provoking piece worth reading. In a nutshell, David argues that our current privacy laws do not actually contain a right to be forgotten and, if we tried to change that, then the law would be unconstitutional because it would violate other charter rights.

When he first posted these comments, there was a fair amount of chatter on one of the listservs I subscribe to. Some pretty smart people had good rebuttals to David’s arguments.

The division in opinion amongst experts is not all the surprising. After all, as Canadians we often find ourselves sandwiched between values that are either more European or American in nature. My suspicion is that if we could somehow poll Canadians on the issue, we would be split pretty much down the middle (but, being polite Canadians, we wouldn’t feel too strongly about it and would respect the other point of view).

I guess this makes it particularly hard for our regulators. They have to step in and determine what a reasonable person thinks is appropriate. Hard to say, when most of us can easily be persuaded either way. I guess that’s why they’re making the big bucks, right? Rest assured that I’ll be probing this topic and other hot button issues with them at next week’s “Gameshow at the Symposium.” Hope you’re there to hear them stickle handle that one!

Have a great weekend … and remember to hug a mom Sunday.