Post Tagged with: "cellphones"

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Supreme Court’s Privacy Streak Comes To End: Split Court Affirms Legality of Warrantless Phone Searches Incident to Arrest

The Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in R. v. Fearon today, a case involving the legality of a warrantless cellphone search by police during an arrest. Given the court’s strong endorsement of privacy in recent cases such as Spencer, Vu, and Telus, this seemed like a slam dunk. Moreover, the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2014 decision in Riley, which addressed similar issues and ruled that a warrant is needed to search a phone, further suggested that the court would continue its streak of pro-privacy decisions.

To the surprise of many, a divided court upheld the ability of police to search cellphones without a warrant incident to an arrest. The majority established some conditions, but ultimately ruled that it could navigate the privacy balance by establishing some safeguards with the practice. A strongly worded dissent disagreed, noting the privacy implications of access to cellphones and the need for judicial pre-authorization as the best method of addressing the privacy implications.

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December 11, 2014 66 comments News

Ontario Court of Appeal Permits Warrantless Search of Cellphone Without Password Protection

In a surprising and troubling decision, the Ontario Court of Appeal has permitted a police search of a cellphone that was not password protected or locked during the course of an arrest.  The court found that the police had a reasonable belief that the phone might contain relevant evidence and […]

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February 22, 2013 19 comments News

Manitoba To Introduce Bill To Regulate Consumer Cellphone Contracts

The Manitoba government is expected to introduce new legislation today to regulate consumer cellphone contracts.  The bill follows a consultation on the issue last year.

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May 9, 2011 1 comment News

Manitoba Launches Consultation on Cell Phone Contracts

The Government of Manitoba’s Consumer Protection Office has launched a consultation on consumer cellphone contracts that includes questions on locked phones, early termination of service, and disclosure issues.

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December 16, 2010 1 comment News

61 Reforms to C-61, Day 15: TPMs – No Exception for Cell Phones

The 61 reforms series now shifts to several weeks worth of postings on the fundamentally flawed, dangerous, and stunningly overbroad anti-circumvention provisions in Bill C-61.  The digital lock rules have rightly been the primary focus of attention for most groups as they are far more restrictive than the Liberal's C-60, more restrictive than approaches in other countries such as New Zealand, and arguably even more restrictive than the rules under the U.S. DMCA.  The Canadian DMCA goes far beyond what is needed to comply with the WIPO Internet treaties and ultimately have the effect of eviscerating fair dealing in the digital environment. 

Even with the many reforms I plan to propose, the reality is that these provisions will still be problematic.  I question the need for anti-circumvention legislation (as do countries like Israel which declined to include it in their recent set of reforms).  If the government is committed to anti-circumvention legislation, however, major amendments are critical.

With an eye on the launch of the Apple iPhone in Canada today, I start the anti-circumvention problems with their effect on locked cellphones.  As currently drafted, the bill could make it an infringement to unlock a cellphone and would certainly make the distribution of programs used to unlock cellphones (or service providers that do so) illegal.  Why is this the case? 

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July 11, 2008 13 comments News