Yes, absolutely.
It's a privacy and reputation framework. In Quebec, privacy rights are protected by the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which applies to the private sector. The civil code also has provisions to protect privacy and reputation rights.
The cornerstone is the measure prohibiting the publication or dissemination of certain personal information such as an individual's name or photo without their consent. The underlying principle is the individual's consent, unless the information is in the public interest.
If the information is disseminated, the courts review the published material in order to determine whether it was in the public interest at the specific time in question. They also weigh freedom of expression and information against the right to privacy and reputation.
Some of the case law is over a hundred years old. It's fascinating to see how things have changed over time, what is in the public interest and what is not, and what is acceptable and what is not. One last point I'd like to make with regard to reputation is that the information cannot be published merely because it is true. A test is administered to determine whether the information is in the public interest.
Despite this framework, two issues persist with respect to the right to be forgotten and the right to erasure.
The first issue is res judicata, or the matter judged. Say my personal information was published and I went to court to have a judge consider the matter. A different decision could be handed down in 10 years, but the court could consider the matter judged, in other words, already decided upon by the courts. That's something to keep in mind in order to move forward within this legal framework and deal with online reputation issues.
Clearly, the other problem is—