The Court of Appeal of Ontario recently released a judgment in an extradition case involving a deportation order to the United States against a man alleged to have committed charges of internet luring, child exploitation and child pornography.
The American police had obtained an IP address from the victim’s computer, and were able to identify the owner of that IP address through the ISP (Internet Service Provider). The issue that the Court had with this was that while the Record of the Case was able to establish that a) the IP address was the one used to committ the offences, and b) that the IP was registered to the accused, there lacked the connection to say that the accused was the person using the IP address at the time in question. Essentially, there was insufficient evidence identifying the accused as the person who committed the offence.
The court stated that there lacked a reasonable inference between a person who is the subscriber of an IP address, and the person using the IP address. Extradition judges are not permitted to use speculation to form a reasonable inference, and that is the only way, in this case, that the judge could have reached his conclusion.
The full decision can be read here.