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Writing for a majority of the high court, Justice Andromache Karakatsanis said an IP address "is the key to unlocking a user's internet activity and, ultimately, their identity, such that it attracts a reasonable expectation of privacy."

IP addresses are not just meaningless numbers, she wrote. As the link that connects internet activity to a specific location, they may betray deeply personal information -- including the identity of the device's user -- without ever triggering a warrant requirement.

Karakatsanis said that if the Charter provision against unreasonable search "is to meaningfully protect the online privacy of Canadians in today's overwhelmingly digital world, it must protect their IP addresses."