Important news for cyber investigations: Police must now obtain a reasonable warrant to obtain a computer's Internet protocol address – more commonly known as an IP address -, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Friday.
In a split decision of five to four judges, the country's highest court ruled that obtaining an IP address constitutes a search within the meaning of Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
“An IP address is the crucial link between an internet user and their online activity. Normatively speaking, it is the key that allows access to a user's Internet activities and ultimately their identity. An IP address therefore raises a legitimate expectation of data protection. Therefore, a request by the State for an IP address constitutes a search within the meaning of Article 8 of the Charter,” Judge Adromache Karakatsanis wrote in the court’s decision. The latter had the support of the judges.
The case was brought to the Supreme Court by Andrei Bykovets, who was arrested after police managed to link his IP address to fraudulent online purchases. During a 2017 investigation by the Calgary Police Service, investigators asked Moneris about the IP addresses used to conduct the suspicious transactions. After the payment processing company agreed to provide it, police then obtained a search warrant to disclose the names and addresses of the people they were associated with, thereby identifying Mr. Bykovets.
Feeling his right to be free from unreasonable searches had been violated, the man argued that the evidence was inadmissible, but the trial judge and the Alberta Court of Appeal found there was no violation. It was only before the Supreme Court that his appeal was upheld.