Warrantless access

It looks like Lawful Access is on its way back. The news comes from the Globe and Mail. Originally the bill was imminent, but after criticism from the Privacy Commissioner it no longer appears to be so. I read the official FAQ on the previous iteration from late last year. The FAQ made things sound reasonable but I felt the paragraph on production orders to be dishonest. This is the one:

The proposed production order would require a third party, such as a communication service provider, to make data or information in its possession or control available to investigators within a specified time period, as set out in a court order. Under a production order, the service provider would provide the data or information to police, thereby eliminating the need for a police search. Production orders would be subject to the safeguards already in place for search warrants.

That FAQ is intended to describe the old Lawful Access bill but the paragraph doesn’t explain that subscriber data would have been available without a court order, potentially including handing over subscriber names and addresses associated with an IP address, putting it well below any safeguards in place for a search warrant. The thought of ISPs freely giving up subscriber data without court order caused Sympatico some headache earlier. I’m glad that Jennifer Stoddart, our Privacy Commissioner, is stepping in.

Update 15/02/2009: Ars Technica has a story on an Ontario court ruling that says there is no expectation of privacy on the internet. It’s a little worrying but doesn’t seem to change much. Law enforcement was always able to ask an ISP to fork over subscriber information, and ISPs were allowed to, just not required to.