Why a Canadian is Suing the U.S. Government Over Google Privacy | Your Morning

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:00]A Canadian is suing the US government after Homeland Security allegedly asked Google for his personal information over anonymous posts critical of US President Trump and the US immigration policy. So the lawsuit claims American authorities requested private account information including his name, address, and phone numbers. To explain what this means for free speech and online surveillance, we're joined once again by international trade expert Barry Appleton. Welcome back.

[00:00:27]>> Hey, good morning, Anne Marie. Okay, what First of all, what exactly are big tech companies like Google allowed to share with governments? I mean, governments can ask, but what are they allowed to receive? Okay, well, what you really need to understand is that in this situation, you've got a Canadian who used anonymous approach to comment. There's someone who's commenting on public events. And the comments go out and they're critical a little bit of the President of the United States. Okay, look, I'm a Canadian who's doesn't say something that's critical from time to time.

[00:00:59]The link to Google was that this person put a Google Gmail address on. So anonymous name, but a contact when you register in with Gmail. So the US government filed an application under the Customs aspects of the Stored Communications Act to Google forcing them to give information. It's not alleged, they actually put a letter and forced them to give them information about the person's name, their whereabouts, all their geolocation, all their communications. So that's true surveillance. Um so at the end of the day, Google is a US company and they got a request from the US government and they have to comply because they're covered by US law. And so for a Canadian, if you're connected in that way, it's up to it's up to what Google does.

[00:01:45]It's a it's really a flip of the coin as to what's going to happen. So it's not a question of what can you do? Google didn't even have to tell that person. Yeah, they found out on their own. Well, they know they have a policy. Google's very good about this. They have a policy to notify the person who we call the data subject.

[00:02:01]Because it's Google that has it. So, you if you have your data on a server in the United States, almost all of us do, you're going to be subjected to US law whether you've got a connection or not. This person last time they've been in the United States was 10 years earlier. Wow.

[00:02:17]Okay. So, let's talk about protections.

[00:02:19]What can foreign governments like Canada do to protect our personal information?

[00:02:24]US company, US government, but Canadian citizen. Okay, look. What we're really seeing is regulatory remote control now from governments. So, the first thing is the Canadian government can actually put some real privacy legislation in to protect us and data localization to make sure that the servers stay in Canada so then the US law doesn't apply. That'd be the best first thing. But China tried that, too.

[00:02:45]Because they for they argued the same thing. Well, but China what they did is they restricted your what you could do.

[00:02:50]No, data localization just means the server is going to be in Canada. You have that option right now. Well, like Microsoft, a whole pile of other things.

[00:02:57]You can click a box and they'll put it in Canada. If that was the case, then this law wouldn't have applied.

[00:03:03]So, the other things you can do is you can encrypt your mail cuz the the law says they have to give them the information, but it doesn't say they have to unencrypt it. So, if you use encryption, that's a really good thing.

[00:03:12]But at the end of the day, this is about digital sovereignty. Shouldn't our data be controlled by Canadians and not by foreign laws? Well, this is part of the Kusman negotiations, correct? This is that digital sovereignty is a big part of those discussions coming up.

[00:03:26]>> A massive demand. And right now, we don't have any policy that protects it.

[00:03:30]And when you don't have a policy, it's just as bad in this space as not having a law. Okay. How worried should Canadians be? Is this a one-off? No.

[00:03:38]This is this is not a one-off. In fact, this is the first time that a case has come because the ACLU, the American Civil Liberties Association, brought a case to a US court. But there have been many examples of of these types of of And but you know, people criticize public policy all the time. They criticize the weather. They You know, if I say something bad about American Pie, someone says something bad about Canadian back bacon, does that give the government the right to surveil you? I mean, that's what this is.

[00:04:04]Wholesale surveillance, and that can't be right. It just can't be. We need laws. That's what you do to deal with something like this. You need it now. We can't wait. This now If your data is your life, and a little bit of your life is going on a server to California, it means a little bit of you is in the US and subject to the jurisdiction. That's got to stop. Okay. How far can this go?

[00:04:28]It's It's there. It I mean, the stuff >> Meaning like, can they stop you from entering the US? Should you assume that you're being surveilled? You are being surveilled, and they're building a dossier on you, whether you like it or not. That's exactly why our data needs to be kept private and personal, cuz it's private and personal. You know, we tell kids, "Don't put that on on on the internet. Don't do that, cuz it'll always stay there." That's what's going on. You know, the stuff that we would say is coming true, and that's why we need effective leadership now, because otherwise it's too late. That's exactly the problem. That's why this is so important.

[00:05:01]>> Hm. It's a little bit trying to get the horses back into the barn at this point.

[00:05:05]But, you know, we have precedent law here in Canada. I'm not sure how this establishes in the state. The lawsuit has been filed. What happens next?

[00:05:11]>> Uh well, the court will rule on it. But, at the end of the day, they actually There's no nexus. So, I'm I'm a US attorney as well as a Canadian barrister and solicitor. So, in Canada, we have broader privacy rights. In Canada, our charter would protect us.

[00:05:26]Our charter has no value to a US court.

[00:05:29]So, we need to have this on the Canadian side, so to speak, rather than the American. On the US side, a court will rule. We'll see where it goes. But, this data has been taken. All Canadians need to start thinking about encryption. They need to think about the things that they can do to protect themselves. And you need to check a box wherever you can to say I want my data in Canada. Do you use encryption? Do you do all of these things, Barry? I do.

[00:05:53]Oh, we're going to have to have you back and show the rest of it how to do it.

[00:05:55]Cuz we are out of time for this morning.

[00:05:56]Great conversation. Thanks for being here. What we need is some laws though.

[00:06:00]Thank you so much, Anne-Marie. Okay, we'll talk more about that. Thanks so much for being here.

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