Urges all to be more transparent, too
TORONTO – The federal privacy commissioner urged telecommunications companies to stand up to police if they ask for subscriber data without a court order.
Daniel Therrien made the plea Wednesday in a keynote address to the annual Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto, complaining that police are trying to re-open the fight over lawful access to metadata and subscriber data he thought ended with the 2014 Supreme Court of Canada decision.
That ruling said police need a court order for subscriber information unless it is an emergency. But several law enforcement bodies, including RCMP commissioner Robert Paulson and the Canadian Chiefs of police have called for a new law to expand warrantless access to certain data while at the same time conforming to the Charter of Rights.
How that might square the circle with the Supreme Court decision is An open question, Therrien said.
“So I maintain that impartial judicial oversight is critical before sensitive personal information may be turned over to the state,” he told the conference. “Warrantless access should only be permitted in exceptional circumstances and I would urge ISPs and other private sector companies to continue to be vigilant when faced with police requests for subscriber data.”
Police have to get a warrant to intercept communications between people, but have long argued – particularly as criminals increasingly use mobile phones and the Internet – they need fast access to metadata, IP addresses and basic subscriber information to track down offenders.
While the Supreme Court decision was clear on what police have to do to get subscriber information, the status metadata is still unclear. Earlier this year an Ontario court ruled illegal a police production order for what would have been tens of thousands of records of people whose cellphones connected to towers near the sites of bank robberies. Police hoped to use the lists to narrow down the number of robbery suspects.
Therrien also repeated his call for telcos to voluntarily issue annual transparency reports on the amount of personal data they give law enforcement agencies or he might call for a law forcing them to do it.
“Companies that do not issue transparency reports I think are falling short of Canadians’ expectations,” he told reporters, “I think its in their interests for companies to be more transparent and public, and frankly if there’s not more progress I will continue to call for legislation on this issue.”
A handful of carriers and Internet service providers – including Rogers, Telus, TekSavvy, MTS, SaskTel and Wind Mobile – have issued transparency reports since 2014, when the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that police need a search warrant to get subscriber information they had been voluntarily handing over for criminal investigations.
After that court ruling what was then Industry Canada (now Innovation Canada) published transparency guidelines to help providers report on what for many Canadians was a sensitive issue.
Therrien's office issued a study comparing the transparency reports issued last year.
One of the carriers to issue regular reports is Telus, which said that in 2015 it received just over 57,00 requests from police or security agencies for personal subscriber information. The vast majority – over 51,000 – were for information to help find or communicate with someone in an emergency. In addition it received about 8,000 court orders and subpoenas.
