Legal Research

B.C. Provincial Court Policy on Live Coverage of Trials

By Simon Fodden

The Office of the Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of British Columbia recently released a policy statement [PDF] regarding public and media access. A few sections of the policy are directed at using computers and other digital devices to transmit information during proceedings:

e. Computers
Members of the public and the media are permitted to use portable computers in Provincial Court provided that they do not disturb the proceedings or interfere with the operation of the court?s own electronic equipment, and that the computers are used solely for the purpose of note-taking.

f. Cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDA?s) or data transmission devices
Members of the public and the media may take cellular phones, PDA?s or other devices with a broadcasting or transmission function with them into courtrooms provided that the data transmission function is disabled. The quality of the courtroom digital recording and audio systems can be compromised by data transmission and thus all such data transmission functions must be turned off.

Does anyone have evidence that the use of a computer or smart phone, for example, to send text via a 3G connection might in fact “compromise” courtroom devices? The Wikipedia article on the use of cell phones on aircraft seems to conclude that there is little if any hard evidence that cell phone use could affect a plane’s systems. I’d be interested to learn whether the Provincial Court ran any tests to see what effects data transmission would have. What this policy requires is not simply that cell phones be set to silent but that they be put in “airplane” mode and thus disconnected from any network. I wonder, too, whether this will be explained and enforced.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on February 22, 2011 (boomark / email).