BC Supreme Court ruling against Facebook reaffirms the importance of proper consent

In Douez v. Facebook, Inc., the Supreme Court of British Columbia found Facebook guilty of violating privacy legislation in four provinces—British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Newfoundland and Labrador

The Lawyer’s Daily sat down with Torys associate Shalom Cumbo-Steinmetz to get his insight on the case. Shalom said that it is a clear illustration of what the consequences are when a company doesn’t get very clear consent from people.

“What the case affirms is the type of advice we would give to clients—if you are using someone’s face in advertising you should get their consent. And get it very clearly,” Shalom said.

“If you are on a ride at the amusement park, and you get your picture taken, if the park wants to use that picture in advertising, I would expect it would give you a form saying you consent to that. And that is the level of consent we should be getting as a general rule if you are going to be using people’s faces in advertising, and you are not paying them as models.”

Read: Facebook found liable for using personal information without consent

He also pointed out that Justice Iyer decided that she could adjudicate claims under statutes enacted outside British Columbia.

“That jurisdictional decision is one of a broader application, so it may be used as a precedent in class actions that deal with traditional breach of privacy claims,” Shalom said.

“And there is a long line of cases that say quite clearly the only courts that have jurisdiction to apply the torts created by those statutes are courts in the provinces where the statutes are enacted. What the B.C. court did was say it did have jurisdiction to apply extraprovincial statutes, but that is in conflict with established law. So we will see what happens now.”

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