Facebook becoming a hot topic in Canadian courts

Mark Zuckerberg and his colleagues at Facebook are no strangers to the courts, including those north of the border.

The social titan recently vowed to fight back against a B.C. woman's lawsuit alleging a privacy breach. The suit seeks to end the company's practice of turning users into brand ambassadors when they 'like' a product or service.

But keeping Facebook topical in courtrooms across the country are two cases that indirectly involve the social site.

In the case known as A.B. vs. Bragg Communications, a teenaged victim of online bullying sought to bring defamation charges against her tormentors in Nova Scotia but under a pseudonym, in order to protect her privacy.

The Nova Scotia court of appeal ruled against the teen just last year, citing that an anonymous person "should not be allowed to bring a defamation action against another," reports the Vancouver Sun.

"To be able to proceed with a defamation claim under a cloak of secrecy is contrary to the quintessential features of defamation law," according to the appeal court. "When injury to reputation is alleged, it is hardly surprising that personal and potentially embarrassing details will be disclosed. But that is the reality of pursuing litigation in Canadian courts, where the open-court principle is enshrined."

Facebook's lawyers provided an IP address associated with the account that created a fake profile which contained "scandalous sexual commentary" and a photo of the victim. The IP address was pinpointed in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, where Bragg Communications was the local Internet provider.

The victim sought a court order requiring Bragg to disclose the identity of the one who owns the IP address, as well as an order to allow A.B. to proceed with the defamation charges under a pseudonym. Vancouver-based media lawyer Dan Burnett is set to act as an amicus curiae, a Latin term for "friend of the court."

A.B. vs. Bragg Communications comes on the heels of another Canadian case centered around content shared on Facebook.

Alberta's highest court ruled this week in favour of two University of Calgary students, who were punished for criticizing their professor in a Facebook group.

Keith Pridgen and his twin brother, Steven, were two of at least 10 students who joined the Facebook group entitled "I no longer fear hell, I took a course with Aruna Mitra," reports the Toronto Star.

Though every member of the public group was questioned, The university handed Keith 24 months' probation, and while brother Steven received a similar letter, he was spared of the probational punishment.

The two brought their appeal to a review committee, citing a violation against their fundamental freedoms under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.

"When they were unsuccessful they filed an application for judicial review in the Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary and the university argued that its students do not have the right of freedom of expression because the Charter does not apply to universities," explains Petti Fong in The Star.

The Court of Appeal decided Wednesday that the students had indeed been treated poorly and the discipline received should be extinguished.

"The court found that the university failed to conduct a proper hearing on the basis of administrative law," said lawyer Timothy Boyle. "On the important charter issue of whether universities are bound by the Charter, for the first time a Court of Appeal justice tried to come up with a comprehensive way to try and approach the issue of whether a university is a quasi-government body."

(Reuters photo)