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Police Can’t Erase Your Phone’s Pictures

A recent Quebec Court decision has stated that police officers cannot ask citizens to erase photos on their phones which capture the officers on duty. This adds to the notion that, fundamentally speaking, filming police officers on duty is completely legal. I wrote about this in a previous post. The officers may, under certain conditions, request that you put away your cell phone, but they simply cannot take your cell phone, without warrant, to verify its content and delete certain images. In fact, the Commissaire à la déontologie policière has recently released a statement confirming this policy....

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The Textalyzer: a 21st century Breathalyzer

It's no real secret, texting and driving has become almost as (if not even more) prevalent than drinking and driving. While similar in nature, they both seem to stand on opposite ends of a spectrum. Socially speaking, texting and driving is generally considered to be harmless and somewhat acceptable while drinking and driving is now almost unanimously stigmatized. And legally speaking, texting and driving has much less weight than drinking and driving does. In fact, it isn't even a criminal infraction. So while a standard DUI can land you up to 5 years in jail, here in Quebec texting and driving will only result...

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Not Illegal to Film Police with Phone

In this digital age where cell phones are ubiquitous and everything is one snap away from being Youtube fodder, it's only normal to wonder whether it's legal to film police officers in action. The short answer is yes, you have the right to film or photograph police proceedings. As long as there's no obvious safety concern, and you're not tangibly obstructing the officers from doing their job, you can snap away. As noted by Canadian Privacy Law Blog, an Ontario judge shed some light on this reality in a recent decision. Here are some pertinent passages from the ruling: In the absence of...

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