What is the result on appeal when trial counsel did not object to the judge’s instructions to the jury? An opinion released today by the British Columbia Court of Appeal in a tragic manslaughter case highlights the broad rule that a failure to object by trial counsel is only a factor to be considered and the narrow rule that limits appellate intervention when the silence of counsel was based on tactical considerations. Appellate courts should hesitate to second guess the tactical decisions of trial counsel except to prevent a miscarriage of justice. 1. Introduction On December 20, 2017, Thomas ..read more

The British Columbia Court of Appeal has upheld the ruling of a trial judge excluding a critical pocket-dial recording from evidence at the trial of Samandeep Singh Gill that resulted in his acquittal for the murder of Manbir Singh Kajla. The recording of the alleged shooting was seized by the police and then unlawfully held for six years when the investigation went dormant. Relying on a policy of deliberate non-compliance with mandated judicial oversight and in violation of the defendant’s residual privacy interests the police undermined the supervisory role of the court and the rule of law ..read more

The Supreme Court of Canada has held that internet protocol addresses attract a reasonable expectation of privacy in a ruling that will have wider implications for the private sector including internet service providers, search engines and artificial intelligence generators. The concentration of personal data in the hands of private corporations has added a third party to the horizontal relationship between the individual and the state. The new tripartite relationship had previously allowed Canadian law enforcement to obtain an IP address from an internet service provider without a warrant. Th ..read more

A sprawling operation by an international consortium of law enforcement agencies has seized the infrastructure and website of the notorious LockBit ransomware group. Over the last five years the seemingly untouchable purveyor of ransomware-as-a-service rapidly grew into one of the most prolific hacking enterprises in the dark web ecosystem infiltrating governments, businesses and medical facilities worldwide. But is LockBit back? Has it returned with a new leak site while cyber sleuths troll the group and its administrator in the language of its trade? 1. Introduction On February 19, 2024, Jam ..read more

The disruption of a botnet and the seizure of internet domains selling a remote access trojan have recently turned the cybersecurity focus on the detection of stealth methods deployed by state sponsored and financially motivated actors. Described as the defining threat of our generation a botnet known as Volt Typhoon linked to the People’s Republic of China was disrupted by an international consortium of law enforcement agencies. And two individuals have been arrested in a separate investigation on charges of conspiracy to commit computer intrusion offences stemming from the sale of a remote a ..read more

The right of all Canadians to be secure against unreasonable search and seizure protects the right to privacy from unjustified state intrusion. The purpose of the right requires that unjustified searches be prevented before they happen and not merely condemned after the fact. This can only be accomplished by a requirement of prior judicial authorization which is a precondition for a valid search and seizure. But what is the result when the police discover during a search that a warrant is invalid on its face because it authorized a search for a longer time than permitted by a statutory limitat ..read more

A former counterspy has been sentenced to prison by a New York court for his unlawful work for Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. When he entered the guilty plea to violating U.S. sanctions against Russia stemming from its aggression in Ukraine he told the court he knew his investigative work for the sanctioned billionaire was unlawful because he was paid with money that originated in Cyprus and was filtered through U.S. shell companies. It was a long and steep fall for the respected special agent formerly in charge of the counterintelligence division of the FBI’s New York field office. 1. Intro ..read more

A jumble of squares in a grid is what the consumer sees when looking at QR codes. The simplicity makes them attractive to scammers who embed them with malicious URLs containing custom malware or direct the user to a phishing site. But QR codes serve another purpose beyond facilitating consumer transactions. They turn analogue transactions into digital ones and nourish the silent machinery of commercial surveillance. 1. Introduction The quick response (QR) code is a two dimensional cousin of the barcode. It was developed by the Japanese company Denso Wave, a Toyota subsidiary, to label automobi ..read more

The founder of crypto giant Binance has pleaded guilty to money laundering violations following an investigation spearheaded by the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Changpeng Zhao, a Canadian national, agreed to pay a fine of $50 million and to resign his position as the chief executive officer of the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world. Binance also pleaded guilty and agreed to pay $4.3 billion in fines and restitution. The guilty pleas are a spectacular development in the fast moving world of cryptocurrency ..read more

A fair trial is not a judicial inquest. In the Canadian adversarial system trial judges do not conduct inquiries on behalf of society at large. Although trial judges may assert trial management authority they must not descend into the arena and enter the fray. The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal has recently ordered a new trial in a case where an interventionist trial judge compromised the duty of judicial impartiality and deprived an indigenous man of a fair trial. 1. Introduction On June 7, 2023, an alcohol-fueled street fight erupted near the hospital in sleepy Rosthern, Saskatchewan. The Lafo ..read more