What's in a Name? Privacy and Citizenship in the Voluntary Disclosure of Subscriber Information in Online Child Exploitation Investigations

Criminal Law Quarterly, Vol. 57, p. 486, 2011

14 Pages Posted: 18 May 2012

See all articles by Andrea Slane

Andrea Slane

Ontario Tech University

Lisa M. Austin

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law

Date Written: September 1, 2011

Abstract

The Canadian cases dealing with the constitutionality of police access to customer name and address information held by telecommunications service providers (TSPs) are notable in that they deal with voluntary disclosure by TSPs at the request of law enforcement officers and because these requests have all been pursuant to investigations related to child pornography offences. Child exploitation is an exceptional context and we should be cautious in drawing broad legal conclusions from these cases, particularly in relation to the Canadian government’s “lawful access” initiatives which include proposals for mandatory sharing of subscriber information upon police request for any purpose.

This article argues that the social and legal context to voluntary cooperation is key to understanding why companies make an exception to their usual practice of requiring warrants in the service of protecting vulnerable children. It also argues that voluntary cooperation must abide by the requirements of “reasonableness” set out in both the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and Charter jurisprudence. Further, such cooperation must comport with both general privacy principles evaluating the sensitivity of information and the limits on police discretion required to abide by the rule of law.

Suggested Citation

Slane, Andrea and Austin, Lisa M., What's in a Name? Privacy and Citizenship in the Voluntary Disclosure of Subscriber Information in Online Child Exploitation Investigations (September 1, 2011). Criminal Law Quarterly, Vol. 57, p. 486, 2011, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2062404

Andrea Slane

Ontario Tech University ( email )

2000 Simcoe St. N.
Oshawa, Ontario L1G 0C5
Canada

Lisa M. Austin (Contact Author)

University of Toronto - Faculty of Law ( email )

78 and 84 Queen's Park
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2C5
Canada

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
198
Abstract Views
1,918
Rank
277,211
PlumX Metrics