The case of a Quebec man charged with obstructing border officials by refusing to give up his smartphone password has raised a new legal question in Canada, a law professor says.
Alain Philippon, 38, of Ste-Anne-des-Plaines, Que., refused to divulge his cellphone password to Canada Border Services Agency during a customs search Monday night at Halifax Stanfield International Airport.
Philippon had arrived in Halifax on a flight from Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The charge against him carries a maximum penalty of $25,000 and a year in prison.
Rob Currie, director of the Law and Technology Institute at the Schulich School of Law at Dalhousie University, said that under Canadian law, travellers crossing the Canadian border have a reduced expectation of privacy.
He said border officials have wide-ranging powers to search travellers and their belongings.
Rob Currie is the director of the Law and Technology Institute at the Schulich School of Law. (CBC)
"Under the Customs Act, customs officers are allowed to inspect things that you have, that you're bringing into the country," he told CBC News. "The term used in the act is 'goods,' but that certainly extends to your cellphone, to your tablet, to your computer, pretty much anything you have."
Philippon has been released on bail, and will return to court in Dartmouth on May 12 for election and plea.
Currie said the issue of whether a traveller must reveal a password to an electronic device at the border hasn't been tested by a court.
"This is a question that has not been litigated in Canada, whether they can actually demand you to hand over your password to allow them to unlock the device," he said. "[It's] one thing for them to inspect it, another thing for them to compel you to help them."
Currie said the obstruction case hinges on that distinction.
"It's not clear in Canadian law whether they can demand the password in order to unlock the phone," he said. "So whether he's guilty of obstruction depends on that, and it's not something that's been litigated before our courts yet. So a very interesting one to watch."
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