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ARTICLE · 18 MARCH 2020

No Privacy Interest In IP Addresses For Individuals?

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A recent decision out of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in R v Bykovets, 2020 ABQB 70 ("Bykovets") raises questions regarding the privacy attributed to an Internet protocol address

CanadaPrivacy
Kristal Allen
Kristal Allen
Jeremy Barber
Jeremy Barber
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A recent decision out of the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench in R v Bykovets, 2020 ABQB 70 ("Bykovets") raises questions regarding the privacy attributed to an Internet protocol address ("IP address").

While it seems intuitive that an IP address, due to its ability to connect individuals with specific online activity, could conceivably reveal a great deal of information about an individual's behavior on the Internet and would therefore be considered private and enjoy the protection of the law, the Court's ruling in Bykovets suggests otherwise.

Facts

The Calgary Police Service's Cybercrimes Investigation Team ("CPS") was investigating online purchases of several gift cards, as it was alleged that these purchases had been made with stolen credit card information. CPS contacted Federated Co-operatives Limited ("Co-op"), one of the businesses at which gift cards had been purchased. The goal was to obtain records relating to the purchases from Co-op, so that the

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