Text Messages

Texting Impersonations: SCC Weighs Digital Privacy in R v Campbell

In R v. Campbell, 2024 SCC 42 (“Campbell”), the Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC”) weighed in on whether the police had lawful authority to use the cellphone of a drug dealer without a warrant to continue a text message conversation with an alleged drug distributor. In a 6-3 split, the SCC held that while there was a violation of section 8 of the Charter and Rights and Freedoms [“Charter”], the warrantless search of Mr. Campbell was justified under the exigent circumstances exception outlined in section 11(7) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (“CDSA”).

BULLETIN: Text Messages are “Private Communications” in R v Telus Communications Co.

The Supreme Court of Canada (the “SCC”) released their decision in R v Telus Communications Co., 2013 SCC 16 on March 27, 2013. The case was previously discussed here. In this case, the police wanted the production of text messages stored in the computer databases of Telus for a police investigation under a general warrant. […]