Do I need to provide PIN or password for my digital accessories, when entering Canada?
I recently glanced over a TV show called "Border Patrol Canada". One Canadian citizen was searched for whatever reason when he tried to re-enter Canada. The authorities wanted to know his laptop password and he refused it. They unlocked it anyway after showing the paragraph in he law and he got really angry about that and almost got arrested even though there was nothing illegal on his laptop. I can fully understand this person, I would never give my password for the laptop or the PIN for my mobile phone to anyone. This is my privacy which I value very highly. Beside the SE network I even have no social media account.
So I was wondering, can this happen to anyone entering Canada? Or must there be some probable cause?
If this is the case I'll probably never visit Canada even though it was on my to do list for travels..
Best Answer
As a rule, you can be asked to disclose pretty much anything when entering any country, not just Canada. Most rules of normal legal due process (warrants before searches etc) don't apply at borders, even to citizens, although at least citizens generally can't be denied entry.
At the end of the day, visiting another country is a privilege, not a right, and you need to play by their rules or they won't let you in.
Of course, the fact that immigration officials and immigration bureaucracy are essentially unaccountable to their foreign citizen "customers", who can't even vote the bums out, doesn't help...
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Answer 2
The BCCLA has obtained the CBSA guidelines regarding access to digital devices. Unfortunately the PDF appears to be a bitmap rather than text so I can't copy and paste from it without OCRing it. However, some relevant excerpts:
Although there is no defined threshold for grounds to examine such devices, CBSA's current policy is that such examinations should not be conducted as a matter of routine; they may only be conducted if there is a multiplicity of indicators that evidence of contraventions may be found on the digital device or media.
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CBSA officers shall only examine what is stored within the device. Officers are not to read emails on digital devices and media unless the information is already downloaded and has been opened (usually marked as read).
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In instances where access to digital devices and media are password protected, officers are to request the password to access the device and record it, as well as any alternate passwords provided, in their officer notebook.
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Passwords are not to be sought to gain access to any type of account (including any social, professional, corporate, or user accounts), files or information that might potentially be stored remotely or online.
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If a traveller refuses to provide a password to allow examination of the digital device, media or the documents contained therein, of if there are technical difficulties that prevent a CBSA officer from examining the digital device or media, the device or media may be detained by the CBSA officer under the authority of Section 101 of the Customs Act... for examination by a CBSA expert trained on digital forensic examinations...
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Until further instructions are issued, CBSA officers shall not arrest a traveller for hindering or for obstruction solely for refusing to provide a password. Though such actions appear to be legally supported, a restrained approach will be adopted until the matter is settled in ongoing proceedings.
You would need a lawyer to give you legal advice, but from a cursory examination of the guidelines, it would appear that you should be unlikely to be requested to provide passwords without good reason, and that you may refuse to provide them and would not be arrested for doing so, however your devices may be confiscated, and you may also be refused entry.
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