A controversial case dealing with a teacher’s privacy in the wake of child pornography charges is going to Canada’s top court.
Sudbury, Ont., teacher Richard Cole was charged with possessing child pornography after explicit images of a 16-year-old female student were found on his work laptop computer, which Cole had obtained after accessing another student’s email account as part of his duties to monitor student emails. The Ontario Court of Justice found the evidence from the laptop should be excluded from his trial because police obtained it without a warrant – after the school turned the laptop over — and infringed on Cole’s expectation of privacy with regards to his personal computer use. In March 2011, the Ontario Superior Court overturned the decision but the Ontario Court of Appeal reinstated the original decision.
Read more on Canadian Employment Law Today.