In a recent article in The Globe and Mail, the newspaper speculated about the implications of a major federal legislative review of telecommunications regulation. In the 2005 Federal Budget Plan, which was released last week, several initiatives were announced that will change how Canadians interact with the industry. | MORE 

Most computer users receive their news about newly released viruses from virus protection companies or through e-mails forwarded by well meaning friends. In some cases, the information is provided by mainstream media outlets. Now, in an effort to reach more people with the warnings, governments are stepping into the picture. | MORE 

One of Canada’s largest banks, CIBC, has been sued over the disclosure of customers’ sensitive personal information to a third party in the US. The suit seeks damages of $9 million and claims breach of contract, breach of duty of care and a breach of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act. | MORE 

The proliferation of spam appears to be prompting more aggressive action by ISPs, but questions are being asked whether the countermeasures have overshot the mark. | MORE 

The Canadian Competition Bureau (Bureau) recently joined 76 governmental agencies worldwide, including its partners in the International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network (ICPEN), in a two-day surveillance and enforcement program targeting scams communicated by spam over the Internet. | MORE 

The Family Entertainment and Copyright Act of 2005 was passed swiftly with unanimous consent by the US Senate on February 1, 2005 following introduction of the bill on January 25, 2005. | MORE 

On the advice of the Treasury Board Secretariat on February 1, 2005, the Canadian Cabinet brought into force the Secure Electronic Signature Regulations (SOR/2005-30). The Regulations define secure electronic signature for the purposes of both the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the Canada Evidence Act. | MORE 

In view of the upcoming Easter holiday and several overlapping periods for school breaks, the usual bi-weekly publication schedule of E-TIPSâ„¢ will skip one week and will return on Wednesday, March 30, 2005.

On the application of a coalition of Hollywood movie studios, the District Court for the Northern District of California has issued an injunction prohibiting 321 Studios (321) from selling versions of its DVD duplication software. The Court found that 321′s “DVD Copy Plus” and “DVD X Copy” violated §1201(a)(2) and §1202(b)(1) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), given that each of the above programs was primarily designed, produced, and marketed to the public to circumvent embedded DVD copy protection. Both programs came equipped with an unlicensed de-scrambling component to allow users to decrypt the CSS (Contents Scrambling System) encoding and make a copy of the decrypted DVD. In making its findings, the Court ruled that the DMCA does not infringe fair use or constitutional rights of users and does not otherwise exceed the scope of Congressional powers. | MORE