Quebecker Faces Jail For Not Giving Up Phone Password To Canadian Officials

wired_parrot writes Canadian customs officials have charged a 38-year old man with obstruction of justice after he refused to give up his Blackberry phone password [on arrival in Canada by plane from the Dominican Republic]. As this is a question that has not yet been litigated in Canadian courts, it may establish a legal precedent for future cases. From the article: [Law professor Rob] Currie says the issue of whether a traveller must reveal a password to an electronic device at the border hasn't been tested by a court. "This is a question that has not been litigated in Canada, whether they can actually demand you to hand over your password to allow them to unlock the device," he said. "One thing for them to inspect it, another thing for them to compel you to help them."

Comments

What?

[Anonymous Coward]

None of this can be true, I was told no one had blackberries anymore. It's all lies lies I tell you

What is the point?

[hawguy]

Terabytes (Petabytes?) of encrypted data enters the country every day from across the world via the internet, yet Border Services thinks they need to inspect the data on everyone's phones?

I sincerely hope he wins the case.

Re:What is the point?

[Lumpy]

Not the last time I took the bridge from Detroit to Canada. The canada guy was a raging asshole, I almost thought he was the American guy and I went the wrong way for a moment.

Re:What is the point?

[SvnLyrBrto]

Border/customs agents have the au-thor-i-tah to cause massive grief for just about anyone, on nothing more than a whim, with no checks on their power (In the US, for example, the constitutional requirement of probable cause and protecting against unreasonable search and seizure and such don't apply to their kind.), or recourse for their victims. Given the nature of the position, I'd expect it to attract the sort of people who would revel in that abuse... ie. raging assholes... no matter what country they work for.

And all national stereotypes aside, I'm pretty sure that no country on this earth has a monopoly on, or shortage of, raging assholes.

Re:Israel got a lot of heat for much lesser offens

[MatthewCCNA]

The person in question is a Canadian citizen and cannot be denied reentry into Canada or sent back.

Re:Right to remain silent where?

[Macdude]

You're assuming that he's alluding to the fifth amendment, the Miranda warning is just a notification of it, but according to the Canadian Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms you have the right to remain silent in Canada as well. You also have the right to an attorney (counsel).

Not that it matters when you're in Customs. Your constitutional rights (mostly) don't apply in customs, in the US or Canada.

Two publications from the BCCLA (BC Civil Liberties Association) you may be interested in:
https://bccla.org/wp-content/u...
https://bccla.org/wp-content/u...

The poison pin ...

[CaptainDork]

... smart devices should have two (2) pass codes.

One of the pass codes allows the owner in.

The other pass code BRICKS the goddam phone. That's the one we give the authorities.

Then, it's like, "Hey you bastards, what did you do to my phone? You owe me a phone!!!"

Until probable cause has been established and a search warrant issued, evidence does not exist.

Right now, I can choose to brick my phone. Ir's mine. I am not compelled by any retention laws to maintain an archive for future requests to examine the phone.

The phone will have to be backed up on the cloud, of course, but authorities don't know that's been done; they don't know where it's been done, and they will have to slow things down in order to get a search warrant.

During that window of opportunity, I am at liberty to delete cloud-based stuff until such time I am formally made aware, by warrant, that my junk is evidence by way of probable cause.

Re:Americans to the rescue

[MichaelMacDonald]

Wait until they pass bill C-51 behind our backs... It gets much worse.