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Olympics feature those prying eyes Olympics from Feb. 12 to 28 — espe- cially if transiting to or from the U.S. — will want to be cautious about carrying any sensitive material on their laptops or hand-held devices. While border searches have been an B ongoing issue, Public Safety Canada esti- mates $900 million will be spent on secu- rity during the 2010 Winter Olympics locally with RCMP, military, and intel- ligence personnel throughout Vancouver and Whistler carrying out checks. Toss in pickpockets and thieves who target hotel rooms, and the Richmond RCMP (site of the international airport) warning "theft of bags is the most com- mon type of offence" and it all boils down to a lot of watchful and prying eyes. ritish Columbia lawyers and their clients entering or exiting the province during the 2010 Winter The concern over border officers searching computers became an issue in 2008 when cases started flowing into the courts. Chilliwack, B.C., lawyer Jason Filek of Baker Newby LLP posted a web article entitled "Leave your laptop behind," which deals with carrying anything sen- sitive on a laptop when crossing borders. "There were a couple of U.S. cases where the border guards were given the right to search," he said, which prompted him to warn clients that sensitive, confidential, or privileged information may fall into the hands of custom officers. The American Civil Liberties Union, recently released info that showed in a span of just nine months, U.S. border officials searched over 1,500 electronic devices belonging to travellers. Under the current policy, they were not required to justify a single one of the searches. The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has also posted on its web site informa- tion regarding searches of laptops citing cases in Canada that deal with issues such as privacy and right to search. "The Canada Border Service does not have a written policy with respect to searches of laptops and other computers," the BCCLA site points out but states that several cases in Ontario affirmed that "a non-destructive search of a computer by turning on and tapping on a few keys or using the device's own search functions to locate and inspect photo or video files" is no different than a search of luggage. The border service, the BCCLA points out, does not need "reasonable and probable grounds" to conduct a search. The BCCLA advises electronic transfer of sensitive files. — JS E-DISCOVERY QUIZ Ontario's Amended Rules of Civil Procedure On January 1, 2010, the new Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure came into force. Among the amendments are substantial changes to the discovery process and an important provision which addresses the disclosure of electronically stored information (ESI). Applied Discovery lawyers Crystal O'Donnell and Virginia Henschel, who have extensive experience in managing complex discovery matters, test your knowledge. 1 2 3 4 CL_quiz.indd 1 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com FEBRU AR Y 2010 15 1/21/10 4:00:40 PM r to A About T Applied rue Discovery discovery or A rue company T False? Befor or e T d update egar pr rue to When or bringing the obligation es is a trigger manufactur False? and pr to T to it is Parties rue the or or the Discovery False? a pr eparing motion Sedona a r False? oportionate ar litigation Discovery Canada Plan. to elating ed oduct at that amount to e the involved, Principles the Plan, discovery the is moment r ecalled r , r importance ee ed equir in to the parties Addr the theom ecall fr the is pr and to Crystal oceeding. agr By complexity a essing parties announced. market. must Electr need to consult Discovery of the onic agr and O'Donnell Plan and issues, Discovery have . ee Vir wher e ginia P . Henschel in audits, investigations, and litigation. For mor Applied Discover processing, r eview See page 45 for answers. y is a worldwide electronic discovervices for law fir , and production ser e infor ms, corporations, and gover mation visit www y leader that offers multi-national collection, analytics, .AppliedDiscover nmental entities engaged y .com.