Canadian governments increasingly seek access to various forms of communications metadata for law enforcement and state security purposes. A free public lecture will explore the legal issues involved at noon Wednesday, September 19, in the Ron W. Ianni Faculty of Law Building.

Lisa Austin, a professor in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Law, will deliver “Reframing the Metadata Debate with Privacy Preserving Lawful Access Technologies” over a light lunch in the Farmer Conference Room.

Dr. Austin holds the Chair in Law and Technology; her research and teaching interests include privacy law, property law, and legal theory. Her presentation will offer an alternative approach to lawful access that is sensitive to the use-context of communications metadata.

“Essential to this approach is the claim that the legal architecture of lawful access must develop with a greater understanding and adoption of technological means of preserving privacy and accountability,” she says. “Doing so, we propose, opens up possibilities to rethink lawful access that can be more rights protective than current methods but also better meet the needs of law enforcement.”

The event is hosted by Windsor Law’s LTEC Lab; to secure a space, register by September 14.