The Supreme Court of Canada says police need judicial authorization to obtain a computer user’s internet protocol address, calling the identification number a crucial link between a person and their online activity.
The top court’s 5-4 ruling came Friday in a case that began in 2017, when Calgary police investigated fraudulent online transactions from a liquor store.
The store’s third-party payment processor voluntarily gave police two IP addresses — numerical identifiers assigned by an internet service provider.