Electronic Surveillance: Section 8 and the Evisceration of Part VI

• Author: Susan Chapman & Bianca Bell
• Pages: 218-239



ElectronicSurveillance

SECTIONAND

THEEVISCERATIONOFPARTVI

Susan Chapman* & Bianca Bell**

Grounded in man’s physical and moral autonomy, privacy is essential for

the well-being of the individual. For this reason alone, it is worthy of

constitutionalprotectionbutitalsohasprofoundsignicancefor

the public order. The restraints imposed on government to pry into the

lives of the citizen go to the essence of a democratic state.

JusticeLaForestinR v Dyment, SCR

A. INTRODUCTION

marksthetenyearanniversaryofthereleaseoftherstgeneration

AppleiPhone While mobile phones and ot hersm artphones certain ly

existedbeforethereleaseoftheiPhoneAppleundoubtedlybeganthe

fundamentalshiftinthewaythemodernworldwouldinteractTherise

ofthemobilephoneandmorespecicallythesmartphonehasforever

changed the nature of commu nications With more Canadian house

holdssubscribingexclusivelytomobilewirelessservicespercent

thantoexclusivelywirelineielandlinetelephoneservicesper

centtherearenowbillionsoftextmessagessentperday Canadians

 SusanChapmanisaPartneratUrselPhillipsFellowsHopkinsonLLP

 BiancaBellisanAssociateatUrselPhillipsFellowsHopkinsonLLP

 CanadianRadiotelevisionandTelecommunicationsCommissionCommunica

tionsMonitoringReportExecutiveSummaryFebruaryonline

wwwcrtcgccaengpublicationsreportspolicymonitoringcmrshtmexi

Electronic Surveillance

areusingtheirmobilephonestosendtextmessagesiMessagesSnap

chatsBlackBerrymessagesFacebookmessagesKikmessagespictures

and more There is also no question that the elect ronically messaged

conversationisquicklyovertakingtheoncecommontelephonecallas

thepreferredmethodofcommunicationforanewgeneration

Unsurprisinglymobile phones are now havens for valuable data

includingnotonlythecontentofcommunicationsbutalsothelocation

andusagedataassociatedwiththedeviceDigitaldataiscreatedoften

unknowinglyandwithouttheunderstandingthatitmayremaininre

coverableformdespiteaemptstodestroyitFurtherdependingonthe

congurationsandactiveconnectionsofagivendevicetherecouldbe

dataaccessibletothedevicefromotherpeopleothernetworksoreven

othercountriesAllofthisinformationisbecomingincreasinglyinvalu

ableincriminalinvestigationsandwhiletechnologyhasadvancedat

anunprecedentedpacethelawconcerninghowtechnologyisusedin

realityandhowthedataitproducesshouldbeprotectedhasmostcer

tainlynot

Common privacy concerns with respect to mobile phones are

whether telecommunications companies wil l store sent and received

messagesifsowhetherthosestoragesitescouldeverbehackedand

thecommunicationsleakedandmoreconcerningwhetherthestorage

sitescouldeverbeaccessedbythepoliceandusedagainstsomeonein

criminal pro ceedings On some electronic platforms the host ass ures

usersthattheirmessageswilldisappearaftertwentyfourhoursother

companiessuggestthatmessagessentthroughtheirplatformarenever

savedonanyserverandthereforeuntouchablebythepoliceSometele

communications companies on the other ha ndsuggest t hatt hey do

notkeeprecordsoftextmessagesoncethetransmissionprocesshasoc

curredThelandscapeofelectroniccommunicationisvariedcomplex

andstillrapidlyevolvingleavingboththecourtsandtheCriminal Code

scramblingtocatchup

Thischapterwhichwillultimatelyconcludethatthelawsfailureto

keeppacewithchangingtechnologiesisleadingtotheeviscerationof

the Criminal CodesInvasionofPrivacyprotectionswillrstprovidean

 SusanMagotiauxOutofSyncSectionandTechnologicalAdvancementinSu

premeCourtJurisprudenceSupreme Court Law ReviewdMagotiaux

 Ibid.

 Ibid.

 Criminal CodeRSCcCCode