The Supreme Court of Canada says police need court authorization to obtain a computer’s Internet Protocol address, calling the identification number a crucial link between a person and their online activity.
The Supreme Court issued a 5-4 ruling Friday in a case that began in 2017 when Calgary police investigated fraudulent online transactions at a liquor store.
The store’s third-party payment processor voluntarily gave police two IP addresses – numerical identifiers assigned by an internet service provider.
The police obtained a production order that required the service provider to reveal the names and addresses of the customers.
Police then obtained search warrants for two houses, leading to the arrest of Andrei Bykovets, who was ultimately convicted on multiple charges.
The trial judge had rejected the argument that the police’s request to obtain the IP addresses breached his Charter of Rights guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures.
A majority of the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed Bykovets’ appeal, prompting him to take his case to the Supreme Court.
Writing for the Supreme Court majority, Justice Andromache Karakatsanis said an IP address is “the key to deciphering a user’s Internet activity and ultimately their identity, so that a reasonable expectation of privacy is created.”
IP addresses aren’t just meaningless numbers, she wrote. As a link that connects internet activity to a specific location, they can reveal deeply personal information – including the identity of the device user – without ever incurring liability.
Karakatsanis said that if the Charter’s provision against unreasonable searches is “to meaningfully protect Canadians’ online privacy in today’s predominantly digital world, it must protect their IP addresses.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 1, 2024.
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