Courts Rule That Internet Subscribers’ Name And Address Are Not Private

In two recent decisions of the Ontario Superior Court, the court found that subscribers of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and their family members have "no reasonable expectation of privacy" in the subscriber's name and municipal address. While the judges in R. v. Wilson and R. v. Vasic differed slightly in their classification of this information, both noted that the subscribers had agreed to the ISP's policies, which authorized disclosure of the information.

In both cases, police officers sought the names and address of subscribers associated with a specific IP address, pursuant to Section 7(3)(c.1) of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). This section allows disclosure of personal information to a government institution without an individual's consent where the government institution makes a request, identifies its lawful authority for obtaining the information, and indicates the disclosure is being requested in order to