Reasonable Expectations of Privacy in an Era of Drones and Deepfakes: Expanding the Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in R v Jarvis

Authors

Suzie Dunn, Dalhousie University Schulich School of LawFollow
Kristen MJ Thomasen, Law, Robotics & Society, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

2021

Keywords

Reasonable Expectation of Privacy, Equality, R v Jarvis, Deep-fakes, Drones, Stalker-ware

Abstract

Perpetrators of Technology-Facilitated gender-based violence are taking advantage of increasingly automated and sophisticated privacy-invasive tools to carry out their abuse. Whether this be monitoring movements through stalker-ware, using drones to non-consensually film or harass, or manipulating and distributing intimate images online such as deep-fakes and creepshots, invasions of privacy have become a significant form of gender-based violence. Accordingly, our normative and legal concepts of privacy must evolve to counter the harms arising from this misuse of new technology. Canada’s Supreme Court recently addressed Technology-Facilitated violations of privacy in the context of voyeurism in R v Jarvis (2019). The discussion of privacy in this decision appears to be a good first step toward a more equitable conceptualization of privacy protection. Building on existing privacy theories, this chapter examines what the reasoning in Jarvis might mean for “reasonable expectations of privacy” in other areas of law, and how this concept might be interpreted in response to gender-based Technology-Facilitated violence. The authors argue the courts in Canada and elsewhere must take the analysis in Jarvis further to fully realize a notion of privacy that protects the autonomy, dignity, and liberty of all.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.

Recommended Citation

Kristen Thomasen & Suzie Dunn, "Reasonable Expectations of Privacy in an Era of Drones and Deepfakes: Expanding the Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision in R v Jarvis" in Jane Bailey, Asher Flynn & Nicola Henry (eds) The Emerald International Handbook of Technology-Facilitated Violence and Abuse (Bingley: Emerald Publishing Ltd, 2021) 555.