Canadian Supreme Court Says Government Needs To Get A Warrant To Get Your Internet Info

from the big-win-for-privacy dept

Fri, Jun 13th 2014 6:37pm — Mike Masnick

While we're still struggling with this stuff down here in the US, the Canadian Supreme Court made a huge decision earlier today, saying that the government must get a warrant to demand your information from an internet provider. In other words, your information is private, even if it's held by an internet company. The full ruling in this case, R. v. Spencer is worth reading, but the key finding is that there is an expectation of privacy in this information, and thus, searching it requires a warrant:

In my view, in the totality of the circumstances of this case, there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in the subscriber information. The disclosure of this information will often amount to the identification of a user with intimate or sensitive activities being carried out online, usually on the understanding that these activities would be anonymous. A request by a police officer that an ISP voluntarily disclose such information amounts to a search.

As Michael Geist points out, not only does this mean ISPs now need to change their procedures, but also (importantly) it should destroy the rationale for two new attempted bills concerning "legal access" (i.e., expanding the government's ability to get information via internet service providers without a warrant). This kind of ruling should fit equally at home with the 4th Amendment here in the US, but the issue still really hasn't been tested at the Supreme Court. Congrats up north, though, for actually recognizing the value of a warrant and just a bit of oversight on government surveillance.

Spencer En (PDF)Spencer En (Text)

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Filed Under: canada, expectation of privacy, internet info, privacy, supreme court, third party doctrine, warrants

22 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 13 Jun 2014 @ 7:00pm

Why do so many other countries appear to have more intelligent leaders/courts than the good old USA? I am embarrassed for my country.
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Roger Strong (profile), 13 Jun 2014 @ 7:11pm

Re:
If it helps, the other day the Supreme Court of Canada locked its keys in its car.
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kyle clements (profile), 13 Jun 2014 @ 11:07pm

Re:
Why do so many other countries appear to have more intelligent leaders/courts than the good old USA?

For a multitude of reasons.

Globally, the parliamentary democracy system has been shown to form far more stable governments than American-style republics.

In Canada, when a corporation gives a large sum of money to a politician in exchange for passing certain laws, it is considered "bribery", rather than "lobbying".

Having 3 major parties (Liberals, Conservatives, and New Democrats) that span the political spectrum instead of just one party (Republicrats) also helps.

In the rest of the developed world, religion isn't nearly as big of a problem as it is in the United States. We prefer to evaluate reasons and examine evidence rather than blindly having faith that things will 'just work'.

Our education system focuses on education, rather than teaching students to pass tests.

And most of all, because our countries are utterly insignificant compared to the United States, we have to pay very close attention to what you guys are doing. When we see America failing so spectacularly, it provides us with a very clear example of what not to do, and it is discussed immensely, and public concerns can become national issues. How much attention does the United States pay to some tiny place that no one has every heard of when things go wrong there?
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InquisitiveSole (Only half rubber), 14 Jun 2014 @ 12:24am

I couldn't believe it when I logged in to the news this morning
So happy and proud to be Canadian today. Despite Harper's and his neo-con cronies' best efforts to undermine our constitution and destroy online privacy (which is what those two bills hinted at in the article would do), the SCOA - with the primary judge being a Harper appointee, no less [irony so delish] - delivered an epic smackdown.

What's even worse about the bills that were proposed, is that not only would it allow law enforcement to get any info it wanted at any time, with no court involvement, but it would also shield ISPs from any and all lawsuits - be it civil or C.A - AND give private companies the same unrestricted access, as long as they stated that it was for security/safety reasons. No proof required, of course.

Today's decision effectively killed all of that, and I couldn't be happier. Especially because, just a few days ago, the gov't lied through its teeth by stating all those proposed changes were completely constitutional, while voting down all amendments that actually tried to mitigate the damage and restore some semblance of privacy, and calling us paranoid lunatics. HA! Can't wait till 2015 when we kick them out of office.

Yesterday, it was Wynn b****-slapping Haduk in Ontario's election, next year it will be Trudeau doing the same to Harper.
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Candid Cameron, 14 Jun 2014 @ 12:59am

A win for constitutional rights, I hope.
The Canadian government has been doing this kind of information gathering for a while now and we also know for a fact it's being done on a truly massive scale. No doubt their hope was to cover their assess by making it 100% legal and to also pave the way towards a slightly more fascist state where they have even more power and control. It pays to remember that many of them have very strong ties to the various corporate interests out there, both foreign and domestic.

Canadian courts have actually been doing a pretty good job of protecting the constitutional rights of the public for a while now, something the government should be doing but isn't. They're called "representatives" for a reason, but they seem to have conveniently forgotten that. They're much more keen to represent their own interests, all while ignoring the public who've been screaming at the top of their lungs about the problems these proposed laws would cause and their unconstitutionality. It has been very exasperating for us to say the least.

It's time for the Canadian people to wake up and vote for real change for once. Bouncing from Liberal to Conservative to NDP is pointless when the only real difference between them is their name. I'm voting Pirate Party next time and so are a lot of other people around here. Countless federal employees haven't forgotten what the Conservatives did when they got their majority for example. That plus their other deeds, like these terrible laws they're trying to pass, have helped immensely in my quest to bring others over to our side, the side of reason.

I have to admit it's been slow going, but at least some Canadians are finally starting to take notice of what their government is up to and they definitely aren't liking what they see at all. Fingers crossed come next election that Harper gets the boot and we finally get some real honest to God change for once. Spread the word and open some eyes, folks!
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Candid Cameron, 14 Jun 2014 @ 1:08am

Re: I couldn't believe it when I logged in to the news this morning
"Can't wait till 2015 when we kick them out of office."

Ditto! A lot of federal employees are still steamed at them for all of the crap they've pulled, so it should be totally doable. Hopefully we an get some of the non-voters to realize their vote isn't as pointless as they think it is too. :)
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2014 @ 1:10am

"A request by a police officer that an ISP voluntarily disclose such information amounts to a search."

At least Canadians understands the definition of voluntary. That's more than can be said about the US Gov, and it's misinterpretation of voluntary under the Section 215 third party doctrine.
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G Thompson (profile), 14 Jun 2014 @ 4:41am

Re:
That's the difference between an English Common law system that deals with pure very non-ambiguous constitutions, Magna Carta and other laws and regulations built over +600 years. Instead of a legal system that is purely based around an ambiguous Constitution and Bill of Rights where the "democracy" is actually an oligarchy and where 'natural justice' is only given to those who can afford it.
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The Terminator Will Be Back, 14 Jun 2014 @ 6:16am

The Harperium will never give up as long as there is one person left not licking the boots of their bozos.

This is just a temporary setback for them.
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art guerrilla (profile), 14 Jun 2014 @ 6:43am

Re:
"appear" is the key word here...
you must disabuse yourself of the idea that this is really a small-dee democracy, the 'leaders' and such are really trying hard to make it work for us 99%, etc, etc, etc...

in other words, EVERYTHING you 'know' about America is a lie... EVERYTHING is bullshit propaganda intended to keep the rabble in line...

the purpose of this system, this society is NOT to provide the greatest good for the greatest number, the purpose -as set up or hijacked by our 'superiors'- is to funnel ALL the money, ALL the power, ALL the control to the 1%...

all the while attempting to hide the naked power mongering behind a thin veneer of democracy-looking institutions and processes...

bread tastes good, and circuses are fun...
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2014 @ 7:44am

Get a search warrant
I believe that was how it was in the US before 19 assholes highjacked 4 airliners and committed mass murder of nearly 3000 our citizens. Go fuck with their countries.
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That One Guy (profile), 14 Jun 2014 @ 8:08am

Re: Get a search warrant
They took lives away with their actions, it was the government that took, and continues to take, rights away.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2014 @ 12:54pm

Re: I couldn't believe it when I logged in to the news this morning
I wish it was Mulcair who would go from #2 to #1 though. I think there's lot of chances that the Harperites get a minority gov and in that case, the Liberals better stop being idiots and form a coalition gov with the NDP.
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InquisitiveSole (Only half rubber), 14 Jun 2014 @ 3:18pm

Re: Re: I couldn't believe it when I logged in to the news this morning
Oh yeah, an NDP win would be awesome, but that's an unrealistic dream for now. The absolute perfect scenario would be Liberal minority + NDP opposition, though that, too, is very unlikely to happen.

Especially because Justin is more appealing to the layman that Tom is, and he seems to be more to the left than typical Lib candidates - though this could be another Obama-type smokescreen - and so he is more likely to cannibalize NDP's votes, since people don't want another Con gov't and also don't think NDP can win.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jun 2014 @ 4:20pm

still a lot work to do reversing all the damage harper has done but this is good news
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Whatever, 15 Jun 2014 @ 5:02am

canada
Unlike the US, the Canadian constitution isn't a locked up, untouchable thing. It's also not judged by bizarre absolutes, but rather by real world consideration. It can also be modified, although it's not easy.

There is also the not withstanding clause, which can actually allow it to be over-ridden for a period of time.

My guess is that there will be laws passed to make ISP information no more protected than payphone records.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Jun 2014 @ 7:32am

...Unlike the US...
So, what effect does this have on the US? Does it address the US' data taps on backbone servers and international networks? Does it prevent the US from querying it's massive database? Certainly, any query applying the NSA's 3 degrees of separation, could query a Canadian citizen's intercepted data. So, other than protecting the Canadian population from their government's overreach, what, if anything, is the global effect of this ruling?
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rapnel, 15 Jun 2014 @ 6:05pm

What effect does this have on the US? None, ha, we still tap your shit without a warrant. Because you're for-eign, neener neen-er.
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MizuRyuu (profile), 16 Jun 2014 @ 10:53am

Re: Re: Re: I couldn't believe it when I logged in to the news this morning
I think if Jack Layton is still around, the NDP would definitely be a force to reckon with in the next election... The NDP just isn't the same without him
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MizuRyuu (profile), 16 Jun 2014 @ 10:58am

Re: canada
The Canadian constitution is completely locked up. Any major change require 50% of the province to agree, with the provinces making up 50% of the national population. Not to mention, any attempt to open up the constitution would lead to a flood of demands from the provinces for other changes before they give their support. Hence, the constitution is effectively locked up. Why else did you think Harper gave up on Senate reform as soon as the Supreme Court declared that it would require a constitutional amendment to change it?
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MizuRyuu (profile), 16 Jun 2014 @ 10:59am

Re:
None... just like I'm sure we are also tapping into the US without a warrant either, since you guys are foreigners...
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Jun 2014 @ 11:40am

The big thing is that is illegal for the ISP to disclose the information with out a search warrant.

So if a movie/record or any company demands the info from an ISP they must first have a warrant.

The judges clearly stated Canadians have the RIGHT to be anonymous when they choose.
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