by Russell G. Benson of McCarthy Tétrault LLP
You know the situation. You have been communicating back and forth by e-mail with the other party and somewhere along the way it occurs to you, “Do we have an agreement here, or have we just been talking?” Your next call is to your lawyer.
If you have ever felt frustrated, or perhaps tempted, by emails promising millions in riches, then you will enjoy Neil Forsyth’s Delete This At Your Peril – One Man’s Fearless Exchanges With The Internet Spammers, published by Birlinn. You will find an excerpt from the book here in pdf format.
by Tina Giesbrecht, Barry B. Sookman, and Erika Ringseis of McCarthy Tétrault LLP
A well-drafted computer-use policy can provide evidence to uphold a termination for cause and can protect an employer from harassment claims, as recent case law illustrates.
The scene is well-known in the workplace: an employee receives an e-mail joke or photo from a colleague down the hall, has a giggle, and forwards the message to other colleagues, friends at other organizations, and relatives who might appreciate the joke. In minutes, a complete cyber network is created, and it has passed along a message.
Sometimes the message is innocuous, e.g., it involves cute images or funny expressions. Other times, it involves racist, sexist or pornographic jokes or images.
