RCMP can order Craigslist to provide information

The B.C. Court of Appeal has overturned a series of lower-court rulings – including one from a judge based in Prince George – that prevented the RCMP from ordering an online classified advertising service to provide records as part of a criminal investigation.

Both provincial court judge Michael Brecknell and a B.C. Supreme Court judge found no jurisdiction to grant the order because Craigslist is an American company with only a virtual presence in B.C.

The RCMP had originally applied to a judicial justice for the order. It was rejected and Mounties were told to provide either of evidence that Craigslist had an office in B.C. or case authority in support of the application.

A second application was made to the provincial court on the strength of an authority that was subsequently upheld on appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada, in which it was found that a company conducting business in B.C. that had a “real and substantial” connection between the province and the facts on which the proceeding was based could be ordered to provide records.

However, in a November 2016 decision, Brecknell dismissed the application because the authority was related to a civil matter, not a criminal one. A subsequent appeal to the B.C. Supreme Court was also rejected on the basis that there needs to be a “custodial or record-keeping presence” within B.C.’s borders.

The matter was then appealed to the B.C. Court of Appeal and in a decision issued Tuesday, Justice Da- vid Harris found that Craigslist, by virtue of its business activities in B.C., is considered under the law to be a person in this jurisdiction and so can be ordered to produce documents located elsewhere.

The order was being sought in relation to an investigation of alleged criminal offences committed in a community in B.C. and “of a type often facilitated out by use of the internet,” Harris said.

RCMP had been seeking a record of the posting on Craigslist along with the user’s name or physical address, email address, internet protocol address, phone numbers used to verify the account and dates and times for its creation of the post.

No further details on the nature of the alleged offence were provided.

The full decision is posted with this story at princegeorgecitizen.com.