Electronic Surveillance: Section 8 and the Evisceration of Part VI

AuthorSusan Chapman & Bianca Bell
Pages218-239

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

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