Andy Kaplan-Myrth

Screenshot of cover page: TekSavvy Solutions Inc. Quarterly Transparency Report Reporting period: January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025 Published October 2025 Introduction The purpose of this report from TekSavvy is to provide insight into our disclosure practices by detailing how often we receive and respond to government agencies’ requests for the personal information of our end users. This edition of our Transparency Report contains information about requests that we received between January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025. As of the date when this report was published, at least six months have passed since we received or responded to each of those requests. <snip>

📢 Today, TekSavvy published a **Quarterly Transparency Report** about requests we got from police and how we handled them.

Last week, we published the report on Jan to Mar, 2025 and as usual, I’m summarizing that report here 🧵👇🏼

#Privacy #Transparency #TransparencyReport #Telecom #TekSavvy
1/9

TekSavvy Solutions Inc. Law Enforcement Guide TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is a provider of Internet access, voice telephony, and related telecommunication services. Hastings Cable Vision Ltd. is a broadcast distribution undertaking, Internet and voice service provider, and an affiliate of TekSavvy Solutions Inc. This document refers to both companies together as the TekSavvy Companies, or simply as “TekSavvy”. We retain subscriber information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. As innovators in the protection of online consumer rights, we are committed to protecting the privacy of our customers. The purpose of this Guide is to assist law enforcement agencies in understanding TekSavvy’s retention and disclosure practices. That being said, these practices are subject to change without notice. Table of Contents ...

TekSavvy is the only ISP in Canada (AFAIK) that publishes detailed information about how we handle requests from law enforcement. You can learn more from our Law Enforcement Guide, which includes what info we have about subscribers, and when we do or do not disclose it. www.teksavvy.com/pol...
9/9

Finally, as always: Sometimes our numbers don’t add up perfectly, or may not be totally complete, mostly because it's hard to perfectly keep track of every informal request, including so-called "jurisdiction requests". There may be small discrepancies in our numbers due to that.
8/9

Moving on, this quarter, we did not make any proactive reports to law enforcement. These are rare, like when an agent overhears violence or a threat. It is never related to a customer's online activity; we do not track that. From our stats, we make proactive disclosures about 5 times per year.
7/9

Screenshot of text: 4) Administrative Requests Of the 36 requests received during this reporting period, 1 request for information was an “administrative request”. TekSavvy did not have any relevant information in response to this request. This category describes any requests for information about TekSavvy’s customers made by government agencies exercising their administrative powers. Administrative powers are, broadly speaking, powers that are created by law and exercised by government agencies or government officials, ranging from tax audits to the issuance of licences and permits.

We disclosed information to 1 "Administrative" agency. That's an agency that is not technically "law enforcement", but they had the legal authority to *compel* disclosure, i.e. we had to disclose the information. Administrative agencies are typically a tax agency or the CRTC's enforcement folks.
6/9

Screenshot of text: 2) Emergency (Exigent) Requests Of the 36 requests received during this reporting period, 11 were requests for information in relation to exigent or emergency circumstances. TekSavvy provided the requested information in response to 10 of those requests. This category includes all requests made in relation to “an emergency that threatens the life, health or security of an individual” as set out in subsection 7(3)(e) of PIPEDA which allows organizations such as TekSavvy to disclose a subscriber’s personal information without their knowledge or consent. TekSavvy rejected one of these exigent requests since this request came from a foreign law enforcement agency. As explained in these reports under point number 8, TekSavvy informed this foreign law enforcement agency that they would need to work with a Canadian law enforcement agency to request or order TekSavvy to disclose the requested subscriber information.

There were 11 emergency requests this quarter, and we identified subscribers in 10 cases. We rejected 1 that came from a foreign law enforcement agency.

11 exigent requests is a new record for a quarter. (Average is 6). We got 7 in Q4 of 2024. The previous max was 10 in Q1 of 2024.
5/9

Since our disclosure rate is generally lower for provincial than for federal requests, our overall disclosure rate is also lower. From 2020-now, we disclosed info for ~90% of fed requests, but 62% of prov. Why? Fed agencies act fast while we have logs, and rarely make informal requests.
4/9

A line graph titled 'Requests for information from Federal agencies fell off a cliff in 2024' displays data from Q1 2017 to Q1 2025. It features two lines: yellow for provincial requests and blue for federal requests. The y-axis ranges from 0 to 50. Provincial requests fluctuate between roughly 10 and 44, with noticeable peaks in Q3 of 2022 and 2024, and show a rising trend in 2024. Federal requests decline sharply starting in Q2 2024, dropping to nearly zero by Q3 2024 and remaining low into 2025.

Requests from federal agencies remains very low compared to pre-2024, at just 1. From 2020-23, the avg number of fed requests per Q was 25; since 2024, it has been under 5. Fed requests dropped in 2024, while Prov requests rose. We don't know why it's happening; changes in police practices? 🤷
3/9

Screenshot of the summary table in TekSavvy's quarterly transparency report for January to March 2025.

Download at www.teksavvy.com/pol... (🎉Now published in French too!)

The number of requests and disclosures in this report is average. In Q1 2025, we got 36 requests and orders, compared to:

45 in Q2 2023
38 in Q3 2023
59 in Q4 2023
39 in Q1 2024
40 in Q2 2024
40 in Q3 2024
39 in Q4 2024

2/9

Screenshot of cover page: TekSavvy Solutions Inc. Quarterly Transparency Report Reporting period: January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025 Published October 2025 Introduction The purpose of this report from TekSavvy is to provide insight into our disclosure practices by detailing how often we receive and respond to government agencies’ requests for the personal information of our end users. This edition of our Transparency Report contains information about requests that we received between January 1, 2025 to March 31, 2025. As of the date when this report was published, at least six months have passed since we received or responded to each of those requests. <snip>

📢 Today, TekSavvy published a **Quarterly Transparency Report** about requests we got from police and how we handled them.

Last week, we published the report on Jan to Mar, 2025 and as usual, I’m summarizing that report here 🧵👇🏼

#Privacy #Transparency #TransparencyReport #Telecom #TekSavvy
1/9

The Canadian SHIELD Institute: A rad, not radical think tank Competition advocate Vass Bednar discusses how her agents of SHIELD plan to address the twin problems of Canadian sovereignty and economic concentration

From Peter Nowak's Do Not Pass Go podcast: "The Canadian SHIELD Institute: A rad, not radical think tank"

Do Not Pass Go | Do Not Pass Go by Peter Nowak | Substack Do Not Pass Go is delivering hard-hitting independent journalism focusing on competition and monopoly issues. Click to read Do Not Pass Go, by Do Not Pass Go by Peter Nowak, a Substack publication wit...

There's a new must-read/listen substack reporting on competition in Canada by and now-podcaster @peternowak.bsky.social. It's called Do Not Pass Go, and it promises to fill the void in competition journalism.
donotpassgo.substack.com
#cdnpoli #competition

Lumel Glass - Artisan Yukon Glassware by Lumel Studios Artisan glassware made by expert glassblowers in Whitehorse, Yukon. Each piece is unique, and crafted with love by the team at Lumel Studios.

The glasses are from Lumel Glass in Whitehorse, which we got there last year. shop.lumelstudios.com

Important read:

“a faculty association should avoid adopting political positions unless expressly authorized in its constitution: the political line in the sand is spelled out in the constitution.”
www.caut.ca/bulletin/con...

The tariff wall is real

Signs out for garbage

This was cathartic. I learned a lot about the education system through my work as a school board trustee in Ottawa. It was an honour to represent my constituents.

No surprise that they were shut down within days of my resignation. I hope they aren’t reinstated before addressing their dysfunction.

Big Fix by Denise Hearn | Open Library The Big Fix by Denise Hearn, Vass Bednar, 2024, Sutherland House Inc., The edition, in English

For a Canadian take, read The Big Fix: How Companies Capture Markets and Harm Canadians: openlibrary.org/books/OL5336...

For an American take on a similar perspective, The Curse of Bigness: openlibrary.org/works/OL1976...

I wish Canadians were more familiar with the Amazon Antitrust Paradox and the Curse of Bigness. Allowing Bell, Rogers, and Telus to enter new markets is market dominance disguised as competition.

N.S.-based internet provider cries foul over federal regulations | CBC News www.cbc.ca/news/cana...

To keep things together, here's my short thread from June 2025 when the court first issued the orders: bsky.app/profile/andy... #siteblocking

As of today, TekSavvy is blocking two more sets of sites, as required by Quebec court orders: xt-dot-com and coinex.

Traffic to those sites is redirected to the gov's info page. But for transparency, TekSavvy also published information:

www.teksavvy.com/policies/int...
#TekSavvy #siteblocking

Photo of the back of a Mini with stickers. The stickers are from national and provincial parks of Canada. A pair of hands, with friendship bracelets on, is placing one sticker.

Now we have to decide if we trade in the car or repair an exhaust leak, cracked windshield, slipping clutch, missing heat shields, bald tires, headlights and more. Just don't want to lose all those stickers!

We went to Algonquin Park, Lake Superior, Quetico, Grasslands, Waterton Lakes, Juan de Fuca, Revelstoke, Glacier, Yoho, Kootenay, Cypress Hills, Riding Mountain, Lake of the Woods, Pukaskwa, and more. An amazing tour of Canada if you want to spend 10 hours a day in a car and drive it into the ground

My family went on an epic Canadian roadtrip in a 2011 Mini Countryman, and check out this animation of it. We put a rooftop tent on our manual Mini (named Manuel). We drove from Ottawa to the west coast and back, visiting and camping in some of Canada's beautiful provincial and national parks.

Opinion: If Bell doesn’t like competing with Telus on its own broadband network, it really won’t like the alternatives The telco launched a campaign complaining about new rules forcing it to allow competitors to access its fibre network

Opinion from Andrew Coyne: If Bell doesn’t like competing with Telus on its own broadband network, it really won’t like the alternatives
Gift link: www.theglobeandmail....

Opinion: Ottawa should reverse the CRTC’s decision on wholesale internet access Broadband policy should be about improving and extending connectivity – enabling the competitive, entrepreneurial investment that makes it possible

Opinion: Ottawa should reverse the CRTC’s decision on wholesale internet access www.theglobeandmail....

AI chatbot Grok issues apology for antisemitic posts The chatbot wrote several antisemitic social media posts Tuesday after Elon Musk's company xAI released a revamped version of it days before.

It. Can’t. “Apologize.”

Bigger Data Analytics

How we do it is TBD, but it probably won't be in these transparency reports. We already have other public information about court-ordered website blocking, and botnet blocking seems more like that type of thing, vs reporting on law enforcement activities. www.teksavvy.com/policies/int...

CIPPIC Summer Speaker Series 2025: Telecommunications in Canada Join us July 30 for Telecommunications in Canada, a conversation with two senior leaders from the CRTC.

Join our last CIPPIC Summer Speaker Series: Telecommunications in Canada with Chairperson Vicky Eatrides and Deputy Executive Director Rachelle Frenette from the CRTC.

🗓 July 30, 2025
🕐 1PM EST
📍 Hybrid (in-person and online)
🎟 Free with registration → www.eventbrite.ca/e/cippic-sum...

TekSavvy Solutions Inc. Law Enforcement Guide TekSavvy Solutions Inc. is a provider of Internet access, voice telephony, and related telecommunication services. Hastings Cable Vision Ltd. is a broadcast distribution undertaking, Internet and voice service provider, and an affiliate of TekSavvy Solutions Inc. This document refers to both companies together as the TekSavvy Companies, or simply as “TekSavvy”. We retain subscriber information in accordance with our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. As innovators in the protection of online consumer rights, we are committed to protecting the privacy of our customers. The purpose of this Guide is to assist law enforcement agencies in understanding TekSavvy’s retention and disclosure practices. That being said, these practices are subject to change without notice. Table of Contents ...

TekSavvy is the only ISP in Canada (AFAIK) that publishes detailed information about how we handle requests from law enforcement. You can learn more from our Law Enforcement Guide, which includes what info we have about subscribers, and when we do or do not disclose it. www.teksavvy.com/pol...
9/9