Border phone search case raises thorny privacy, charter issues: lawyers
HALIFAX — Several thorny questions still haven’t been answered in the case of a Quebec man who refused to give border officers his cellphone pass code, say privacy and technology lawyers.
Alain Philippon had said he would fight a charge of obstructing border officials but pleaded guilty Monday in Dartmouth, N.S., and was fined $500.
He was charged when he refused to unlock his cellphone in March 2015 after flying to Halifax from the Dominican Republic.
David Fraser, a privacy lawyer with McInnes Cooper in Halifax, says that because the case didn’t go to trial there are still serious doubts about phone searches.