OTTAWA -- A federal judge has rejected the Canadian Security Intelligence Service's request to obtain basic information about unknown phone and internet subscribers who may come to the spy agency's attention in future.
Federal Court Chief Justice Paul Crampton says CSIS failed to show a sufficient connection between its investigation and the people whose privacy rights would be compromised.
A public version of the top secret September ruling -- with several redacted passages -- was issued today.
As part of a terrorism investigation, CSIS was seeking judicial warrants for the names and street addresses of telecom subscribers and, in some cases, information relating to computer IP addresses.
The subscriber information related to telephone numbers or electronic identifiers that might one day come to the spy service's attention in the course of its probe.
In a second, related ruling made public today, Crampton ruled CSIS's use of a cellular-site simulator to capture data from mobile phones without a warrant was consistent with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
