Tower Dump Production Orders: Restricting Police Access To Cellular Records In R v. Rogers Communications

Introduction

"Was the person at the Blue Jays game instead of at work?"  In his decision in R v. Rogers Communication¹, Justice Sproat of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice used this innocuous hypothetical to illustrate the privacy interest that the Canadian public may have in their cellular telephone records.  In an age where the towers accessed by cellular telephones can indicate the user's geographic location to those with access to the data, an unauthorized day at the park can turn into seriously unwanted attention if there is a cellular telephone in your pocket.  But playing hooky from the office should be the least of the fears of the general public when it comes to police access to the records of cellular towers as part of an investigation.