The Canadian Privacy Law Blog: Developments in privacy law and writings of a Canadian privacy lawyer, containing information related to the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (aka PIPEDA) and other Canadian and international laws.

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The author of this blog, David T.S. Fraser, is a Canadian privacy lawyer who practices with the firm of McInnes Cooper. He is the author of the Physicians' Privacy Manual. He has a national and international practice advising corporations and individuals on matters related to Canadian privacy laws.

For full contact information and a brief bio, please see David's profile.

Please note that I am only able to provide legal advice to clients. I am not able to provide free legal advice. Any unsolicited information sent to David Fraser cannot be considered to be solicitor-client privileged.

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The views expressed herein are solely the author's and should not be attributed to his employer or clients. Any postings on legal issues are provided as a public service, and do not constitute solicitation or provision of legal advice. The author makes no claims, promises or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained herein or linked to. Nothing herein should be used as a substitute for the advice of competent counsel.

This web site is presented for informational purposes only. These materials do not constitute legal advice and do not create a solicitor-client relationship between you and David T.S. Fraser. If you are seeking specific advice related to Canadian privacy law or PIPEDA, contact the author, David T.S. Fraser.

Monday, July 21, 2008

A promise like that would require lawyers, money, and probably guns

This is brilliant:

FAQs about Mailinator
What is Mailinator's official privacy policy?
The official policy is something like: At Mailinator, THERE IS NONE. Expect that any email you send or have sent here can be viewed by anyone. Mailinator/ManyBrain does NOT ask, require or even want any of your personal information. This service is not much different than the existing Usenet; anything you put out there is world-viewable. Keep that in mind.
So if the government issued a subpeona to Mailinator to divulge emails or logs, you'd rat me out?
Holy crap, yes. I'm not going to jail for you, I have a boyish face and very (very) supple skin.
That said, Mailinator keeps very little for any length of time. Mailinator can be a useful privacy tool.
Privacy is a serious issue, and we want to be clear. We think Mailinator can provide pretty decent privacy, and we want to keep providing that and even improve it, but we can't promise it. A promise like that would require lawyers, money, and probably guns - and since we provide Mailinator for free, we don't have any of those.

This was forwarded to me by a friend, who I expect has better things to do than ferret out that most elusive creature: the funny privacy statement.

Update: I should have guessed it .... PGuy is too busy doing deals in NYC to be reading FAQs. He got it from Rick Segal: The Best FAQ in the World.

Labels: privacy