November 30 2010 - When the police come knocking: Supreme Court approves monitoring of electricity use
Murray Long analyzes the recent Supreme Court decision in R. v. Gomboc, which required the court to consider whether the use of a digital recording ammeter ("DRA") to monitor electricity use without a warrant is consistent with the privacy protections under section 8 of the Charter.
While the Supreme Court ultimately approved the use of the DRA in this case, this decision also affirms that legislated exceptions to consent permitting police to obtain personally-linkable data without a warrant may lead to Charter violations. The greater the capacity of technology to create more detailed data, particularly where it intrudes into the sanctity of the home, the greater the likelihood of it entering the sphere of the “biographical core.”