University of Alberta Faculty of Law Blog

R. v. Morelli, 2010 SCC 8

Some excepts from the reasons.

From the majority reasons of Fish J (McLachlin C.J. and Binnie, Abella JJ concurring):

[1]  This case concerns the right of everyone in Canada, including the appellant, to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure.  And it relates, more particularly, to the search and seizure of personal computers.

[2]  It is difficult to imagine a search more intrusive, extensive, or invasive of one’s privacy than the search and seizure of a personal computer. 

[3]  First, police officers enter your home, take possession of your computer, and carry it off for examination in a place unknown and inaccessible to you.  There, without supervision or constraint, they scour the entire contents of your hard drive: your emails sent and received; accompanying attachments; your personal notes and correspondence; your meetings and appointments; your medical and financial records; and all other saved documents that you have downloaded, copied, scanned, or created.  The police scrutinize as well the electronic roadmap of your cybernetic peregrinations, where you have been and what you appear to have seen on the Internet — generally by design, but sometimes by accident.

[4]  That is precisely the kind of search that was authorized in this case.  ...

The majority held that the search warrant was improperly obtained, the search was illegal, and the evidence obtained as a result of the search was to be excluded under s.24(2) of the Charter.

MasterMaq on the power of new media

MasterMaq is someone I have been following on his blog and twitter account for sometime now. The storm that hit Edmonton a few days ago proved to me once again how irrlevant traditional media is becoming, even those who have a web presence. Rather, it was average citizens who updated their twitter posts regularly that allowed for people like myself to follow in real time where the power had gone down and where was safe to be. MasteMaq now has the wrapup and analysis on the role the new media played in covering the storm.

Given the role twitter and blogs have played in exposing many episodes of political and natural disasters, I have been arguing that the courts should give bloggers the same rights as journalists in terms of free speech and other privileges.

More Death of Free Speech

The Australian government will now decide what you can and can't read on the web. (h/t Drudge)