Protecting Privacy In The Age Of The Internet

Supreme Court of Canada emphasizes Canadians' right to Internet privacy and anonymity

The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) has recognized Canadians' right to Internet privacy in a recent decision involving Internet Protocol (IP) address information provided to police by an Internet Service Provider (ISP). In R. v. Spencer (Spencer),¹ the SCC unanimously held that (i) there is a reasonable expectation of privacy in IP account information; and (ii) a violation of this reasonable expectation is not authorized by the Criminal Code or the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Background

In Spencer, police monitored an online public peer-to-peer file-sharing site for shared folders used for storing and sharing child pornography. Police identified the IP address—the number corresponding to the particular Internet connection through which a computer accesses the Internet—associated with the accused's shared folder on the file-sharing