Kirk Makin reports:
A man’s home may be his castle, but records that show its electricity usage can become the property of the police, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled today.
In an important ruling delineating limits to the right to privacy, a 7-2 majority said that police can obtain utility records to determine whether a home may conceal a marijuana grow operation.
[….]
Mr. Justice Ian Binnie, Mr. Justice Louis LeBel and Madam Justice Rosalie Abella concluded that while the technology can breach the right to privacy, it did not do so in the Gomboc case. They said that Mr. Gomboc had chosen not to avail himself of a regulation that would have permitted him to ask the utility to keep his records private.
Read more in the Globe and Mail.
Okay, all you Canadian lawyers: what regulation are they referring to, and if he had availed himself of it, couldn’t police still get some authorization or court-approved order to obtain his records?