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Computer Crimes, Internet Luring, Cyber Stalking & Online Fraud Edmonton | Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey lawyers@pringlelaw.ca(780) 424-8866MenuHome Our Lawyers Alexander Pringle, Q.C. (1947-2015) Dan Chivers Michael D. Sparks Kent J. Teskey, Q.C. Lindsay Tate Nicole J. Stewart Evan McIntyre Curtis Steeves Laura Matalas Stephen Brophy Vita Wensel (Student at Law) Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence Sexual Assault & Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & TechnologyTreasonTheft, Fraud & FinancialTreasonFirearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Info Articles What You Need to Know if the Police Want to Speak with You Sentencing & Sentencing Options For Students Alexander D. Pringle Memorial Scholarship Articling Student Program Areas We Serve Edmonton Camrose Central Alberta Fort McMurray Fort Saskatchewan Grande PrairieUpperPrairie Hinton Leduc Lloydminster Northern Alberta Peace River Red Deer Sherwood Park Southern Alberta St. Albert St. Paul Stony Plain Vermilion Wetaskiwin Fees Contact Internet, Computers & TechnologyTreasonIS THERE A SPECIAL CATEGORY OF “INTERNET” OR “CYBER” CRIME? It most ways, there are no “special rules” well-nigh treason on the Internet. If it is versus the law to say or do something in “real life,” it is probably moreover a treason to say or do it using the Internet or using a computer. For example, if you threatened to skiver someone online, you could be charged with uttering threats, just like if you threatened them in person. As a result, all sorts of crimes can be single-minded electronically. Some worldwide examples of crimes that are often single-minded using the Internet or computers include: Making, accessing, or distributing child pornography or other obscene materials. Internet “luring.” Criminal harassment (sometimes tabbed “cyber-stalking”) and uttering threats. Extortion (“blackmail”). Fraud, forgery, impersonation, and identity theft. Copyright infringement and other intellectual property crimes. There are moreover some specific crimes that directly relate to computers and computer networks, such as “unauthorized wangle to a computer system” and “mischief to data.” These include what most people would think of as “hacking.” Records from the Internet and electronics can moreover create vestige that can be used in scrutinizingly any kind of investigation. For example, text messages on a lamina phone could help police prove that a person was selling drugs. Or a phone visitor might record which lamina phone tower was used to make a phone call, which could help prove that someone was nearby when a murder was committed. Or a person’s nonflexible momentum could contain a reprinting of a video that shows a person stuff assaulted. The possibilities are endless. IS THERE ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT DEFENDING AGAINST CRIMES THAT INVOLVE TECHNOLOGY OR THE INTERNET? Defending versus these sorts of charges requires a sophisticated understanding of both the technology involved and the privacy rights that might apply. Computers and the Internet have been a part of everyday life for years, but the law takes time to reservation up to new technology, and technology treason is a fast-changing zone of the law. There are subtle nuances that can stupefy the outcome of a case. The rules well-nigh what police can and cannot do are not unchangingly clear, and unshut to interpretation (and argument). Technology treason is commonly investigated and prosecuted by specialized groups of police officers and Crown prosecutors. They receive in-depth training, and often devote large amounts of time and resources to these investigations and magistrate cases. Lawyers at Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey have wide-stretching wits defending versus charges that involve the Internet and technology. Our firm regularly represents individuals charged with these sorts of offences, and we understand the legal and technological issues that are involved in defending versus these offences. If you have been charged with an offence, or are under investigation, please contact us to discuss your case. WHAT SORTS OF ISSUES ARE RAISED IN INTERNET OR TECHNOLOGY-RELATED PROSECUTIONS? Some questions that often come up in prosecutions involving the Internet and computers include: Did the police have the right to get information well-nigh you from your Internet Service Provider or phone company, such as your IP address, subscriber information, phone records, or the places where your phone was used? Did the police have unbearable vestige to get a search warrant to seize and unriddle your computers or lamina phones? Did the police process the computer vestige within the legal value of time? Can the police prove that you knew a unrepealable file or piece of information was downloaded or stored on your computer? Can the police prove that you were the specific person who used a device to commit a crime? Do the police have the right to search your lamina phone without you were arrested? Did the police use the correct forensic techniques when analyzing a computer or lamina phone that was seized from you? Did the police “entrap” you, by giving you the opportunity to commit a criminal offence without reason to suspect you were once engaged in that crime? If you were communicating with someone who is under-age on the Internet, did you believe they were over 18, and did you take reasonable steps to learn their age? WHAT HAPPENS IF THE POLICE HAVE NOT “FOLLOWED THE RULES” WHEN THEY COLLECTED EVIDENCE AGAINST ME? If the police have not respected your privacy rights and have violated the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, a judge could decide to exclude some of the vestige that would otherwise be used versus you at a trial. This ways that the prosecutors may not be worldly-wise to use the vestige to prove you are guilty. For example, if the police seized your computer from your home, and a judge later rules that the police did not have unbearable vestige for a search warrant, the prosecutor may not be worldly-wise to use any files found on the computer to prove you are guilty. This can significantly weaken the specimen versus you, and in some cases, excluding vestige could rationalization the prosecution’s specimen to collapse.Vestigeis not automatically “thrown out” just considering the police have made a mistake, however.Planeif the judge agrees that the police have made a mistake, the judge will wastefulness a number of factors to decide whether the vestige can still be used versus you. For example, a judge will consider the seriousness of the police’s mistake, how much the police’s deportment have interfered with your rights, and whether the vestige is so vital and compelling that excluding it would be worse for the justice system’s reputation than whereas it. The SupremeMagistratehas repeatedly ruled that personal computers and electronic communications have a very upper expectation of privacy. This ways that a judge will often consider these kinds of privacy breaches serious, making it increasingly likely the vestige would be excluded. HOW CAN THE POLICE PROVE THAT I SAID OR DID SOMETHING ON THE INTERNET? The internet can often requite a person a false sense of anonymity. In reality, the Internet can be a very constructive surveillance tool. In theory, your every move online can be monitored and recorded, and used to identify you. Why? The technical subtitle can be a bit complicated. Every computer or other device that connects to the internet can be identified by a number, tabbed an Internet Protocol (IP) address. When you connect to the internet, your Internet Service Provider (for example, Shaw or Telus) assigns you a unique IP address. You unroll your IP write to the websites you visit, and a website may your IP write when you wangle the site. If the police can learn the IP write of the computer that was used to do something on the Internet, they can then ask an Internet Service Provider to tell them which subscriber was using that IP address, which can reveal your identity. For example, say you uploaded a copyrighted music file to a website. The website owner may not know who you are, but the computer server where you uploaded the file probably stored a reprinting of your IP write (e.g., “123.45.67.89”). If the website owner gives this number – 123.45.67.89 – to the police, the police can squint up which Internet Service Provider is responsible for that IP write (say, Shaw). The police can then contact Shaw, and Shaw can squint up which subscriber was prescribed the write 123.45.67.89 on the stage and time when the file was uploaded (e.g. “Bob Smith, 123 Nowhere Street, Edmonton, Alberta”). By connecting these dots, the police can hands find out which subscriber worth was used to upload the file. This is often unbearable to convince a judge to grant a search warrant, permitting the police to come to your house (“123 Nowhere Street”) and seize your computers to squint for vestige to use versus you. It may moreover be unbearable vestige for the police to place you under trespassing and question you well-nigh whether you were involved in a crime. THE POLICE CAME TO MY HOUSE WITH A SEARCH WARRANT AND SEIZED MY COMPUTER, BUT I HAVE NOT BEEN CHARGED YET. SHOULD I CONTACT A LAWYER? Occasionally, the police will search a house and seize computers and other electronics, but will not lay charges versus you until the computers are analyzed by a computer forensics expert. If this happens, it is very important that you get legal translating at an early stage. There may be steps you can take to limit how the police can use the computers that were seized. There is moreover the endangerment the police could trespassing you and question you later on. Speaking to a lawyer right yonder helps alimony all of your options open. It can moreover ensure you get valuable translating well-nigh how to stave incriminating yourself, or making it harder for you to get released by the police if you are later arrested. When the police seize vestige by way of a search warrant, they are subject to unrepealable time limits to lay charges within, unless they wield for an extension. It is important to seek legal translating when your computer is seized, plane if charges have not been laid yet. DO THE POLICE HAVE A RIGHT TO SEARCH MY CELL PHONE IF I AM FOUND CARRYING IT WHEN I AM ARRESTED? This is an evolving zone of the law, and until the SupremeMagistraterules on this issue, it is nonflexible to requite a well-spoken wordplay to this question. Some courts have suggested that the police have self-ruling reign search a person’s lamina phone when they arrested, so long as they are searching the phone for reasons related to the arrest. Other decisions have suggested the police can do a vital or “cursory” search of the phone, but need a warrant if they are going to do a increasingly detailed search. And some courts have suggested the police are not unliable to search a cellular phone at all, unless a judge issues a warrant first. The SupremeMagistratewill decide a specimen in the coming months that will probably well-spoken up the uncertainty in this zone of the law, and requite the police with increasingly guidance well-nigh these kinds of searches. Your weightier protection versus the police searching your phone without a warrant is to lock your phone with a PIN or password. Some courts have suggested that the police need a warrant to search when a phone is “locked.” In addition, if your phone allows you to encrypt its storage, this makes it increasingly difficult for the police (or anyone else) to learn what is saved on the phone. ARE THE POLICE ALLOWED TO COLLECT INFORMATION ABOUT ME FROM SOCIAL MEDIA WEBSITES, SUCH AS FACEBOOK? There are a few variegated ways the police can gather information well-nigh you from social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, Myspace, or Nexopia. The easiest way is by simply logging into the website and accessing information you have left unshut to the public. You probably don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in information that you segregate to share with the world on a social media website. For example, if you don’t take any steps to protect your Facebook photos from other users, the police are self-ruling to log on and see what you’ve posted, just like everyone else. The police can moreover ask someone who has wangle to your social media posts to requite them a copy. So for example, plane if you do not let anyone but your “friends” view your pictures on Facebook, the police can ask one of your friends to send them a reprinting of a picture. Although the thought of the police snooping virtually on Facebook may sound paranoid, it happens all the time. The police routinely use Facebook as an investigative tool to identify possible suspects, to find out whether people know each other, or see if variegated people have been spending out together. For example, without the Stanley Cup Riot in Vancouver, the police used images posted on Facebook to prove that people were involved in the rioting. If you do not want the police to have wangle to information you post on social media, you should trammels to see if there are privacy settings on the website that can limit who can wangle your information – or just don’t post anything you don’t want the police to see.Planeif you have strict privacy settings and your “friends” don’t cooperate with the police, the police may still get wangle to social media posts. If the police can convince a judge there is good reason to wangle your private posts, a judge can order a social media website to requite the police a copy. So for example, if you have sent a “private message” to flipside on Facebook, the police could ask a judge to gravity Facebook to requite them a reprinting of this message. ARE THE POLICE ALLOWED TO READ MY EMAIL OR MY TEXT MESSAGES? The police will usually require a judge’s permission to read private electronic communications, like emails or text messages. Most courts have found that people have a “reasonable expectation of privacy” in these kinds of messages, which ways that in general, the police need prior clearance (from a judge) surpassing they can seize copies of emails or text messages, whether they are stored on your personal computer or on your email provider’s computer server. There are moreover strict rules well-nigh when the police are unliable to directly intercept these kinds of private communications when they are sent from one person to flipside (as opposed to seizing copies stored on a server). Directly intercepting these messages is considered a form of “wiretapping,” and the police are not unliable to tap private communications unless they follow plane increasingly rigorous procedures. It isn’t impossible for the police to get copies of your text messages or emails – they just need to get a judge’s permission first. The police will have to convince a judge that there is good reason to believe that the emails or text messages will be relevant to an investigation. The police do not need to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt” that you have single-minded a criminal offence, or show that it is veritably unrepealable the emails or text messages will help their investigation. As long as there is a reasonable likelihood that the emails or text messages squire with the investigation of a crime, this can be unbearable for the police to get copies of your messages. Of course, the rules vary from place to place. While Canadian law enforcement officials will often require a judge’s order surpassing they can read these sorts of electronic messages, the same may not be true in countries such as the United States. If you want to make it harder for officials from other jurisdictions to read your email or text messages, you should consider using an encryption program.Moreoverkeep in mind that someone who receives an email or text message from you can voluntarily requite a reprinting to the police. For example, if you used your company’s email system to send a threatening message to your boss, there is nothing stopping your superabound from printing out a reprinting of the email and giving it to the police. CAN A BORDER GUARD OR CUSTOMS OFFICER SEARCH MY COMPUTER OR MY CELL PHONE? You have a much lower expectation of privacy when you enter or leave Canada than you have in day-to-day life within Canada. Courts have unceasingly ruled that verge guards and surcharge officials have much increasingly leeway to stop and search people than do “ordinary” law enforcement officers. On the other hand, Canadian courts have moreover ruled that some ramble rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms apply plane at the verge – in other words, verge crossings are not “Charter-free zones,” and there are still limits to when and how a verge baby-sit can search you or your property. Some kinds of searches, such as a routine valise inspection, certainly do not require a warrant from a judge, nor do they require strong, individualized suspicion that a person is delivering contraband. On the other hand, very invasive searches, like an intrusive soul incision search, may require a judge’s prior approval. There aren’t many magistrate decisions that relate to lamina phone or computer searches at the border. The few cases that have been decided suggest that verge guards have the power to self-mastery at least a “cursory” search of your lamina phone or computer without a judge’s prior approval, plane if they do not have reasonable grounds (or “probable cause”) to believe they will find vestige of a treason or a surcharge violation. You should expect the possibility that verge guards will search your electronic devices, expressly if they have some reason to at least suspect the devices contain contraband. This document was prepared as a unstipulated overview of the law and was current as of its initial writing. It is not legal advice, and it is not a substitute for legal advice. You should not rely on this information to wordplay your specific legal questions, and should consult a lawyer instead. Contact Us (780) 424-8866lawyers@pringlelaw.ca Leave this Blank if are sentient Practice Areas Impaired Driving Drug Offences Offences of Assualt Domestic Violence Sexual Assault & Sexual Offences Administrative Licence Suspensions & Appeals Internet, Computers & TechnologyTreasonTheft, Fraud & FinancialTreasonFirearms & Weapons Offences Criminal Appeals Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey300-10150 100 Street NW Edmonton, Alberta, T5J 0P6lawyers@pringlelaw.caUndeniabilityus 24/7: (780) 424-8866 Copyright © 2018 Pringle Chivers Sparks Teskey | Disclaimer Menu /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - start */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* ----------------------------------------- */ /* Content Template: Template for Practice Areas - end */ /* ----------------------------------------- */