Court determines there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy in a bare IP address, requiring a court order for police to obtain

On the first of March, 2024, the Supreme Court of Canada released a significant privacy decision that should grab the attention of technology lawyers. The 5-4 decision in R v Bykovets follows the 2014 unanimous decision in R v Spencer to conclude that the police have to get a court order before asking a company for an IP address that may lead them to the identity of a suspect. Until this decision, it was unclear whether the police required a court order to collect the digital “breadcrumbs” at the beginning of an investigation.

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