digital searches

R v Canfield: Unrestricted Searches of Digital Devices at the Border Declared Unconstitutional

Over the past decade, personal electronic devices (“PEDs”) such as cell phones, tablets, and laptops have become mobile security safes for individuals’ core biographical and personal information. They contain banking information, credit card numbers, health data, private correspondence, and personal photos, all locked away by a single password. Having another person, especially a government official, […]

R v Fearon: Cell Phones, Privacy, and the Supreme Court in the Digital Age

In R v Fearon, 2014 SCC 77 [Fearon], the Supreme Court of Canada considered the circumstances under which police officers can justifiably conduct a warrantless search of an arrestee's cell phone or other digital device. Fundamentally, the decision required the court to assess and balance the public purposes served by effective law enforcement against the dignity and privacy […]