Is web scraping illegal in Canada?

No. Canada has no statute that bans web scraping. Scraping public facts is lawful. Liability arises under PIPEDA and provincial privacy laws for personal information, the Copyright Act for creative content, the Criminal Code for unauthorised computer use, and contract law for website terms, which Canadian courts have enforced against scrapers.

Is scraping personal information legal under PIPEDA?

Only with consent or within a narrow exception. PIPEDA requires knowledge and consent for commercial collection of personal information. The publicly available information exception covers directories, registries, court records and publications, not social media profiles. The Privacy Commissioner found Clearview AI's scraping unlawful in 2021 on exactly this basis.

Do website terms bind a scraper in Canada?

Yes, and Canadian courts have been willing to enforce browsewrap terms. In Century 21 v. Rogers Communications (2011) the BC Supreme Court held that Zoocasa was bound by Century 21's website terms, which it had notice of, and had breached them by scraping listings.

Is scraped content protected by copyright in Canada?

Facts are not. Original works, including photographs and descriptions that show skill and judgment under CCH v. Law Society (2004), are. In Trader v. CarGurus (2017) the Ontario Superior Court awarded statutory damages against CarGurus for displaying scraped dealer photographs. Canada has no text-and-data-mining exception.

Can scraping be a crime in Canada?

Section 342.1 of the Criminal Code criminalises fraudulently and without colour of right obtaining a computer service or intercepting a function of a computer system. Reading public pages is not fraudulent. Using stolen credentials, defeating access controls, or deliberately disrupting a service can be, and section 430(1.1) covers mischief in relation to data.

Does Quebec have different rules?

Yes. Law 25 modernised Quebec's private-sector privacy law with GDPR-style obligations: privacy impact assessments, a designated privacy officer, consent requirements, and administrative penalties of up to C$10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover. Scraping personal information about Quebec residents engages it in addition to PIPEDA.

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Is Web Scraping Legal in Canada? PIPEDA, Copyright and Case Law (2026)

Published 2026-10-11 · Updated 2026-10-11 · By the Scrapeshop team

Web scraping is legal in Canada when you collect publicly accessible facts, do not breach website terms you had notice of, do not reproduce copyrighted works, and do not collect personal information without consent. Canada has no scraping statute, but it is one of the few jurisdictions with reported decisions that went against scrapers on both contract and copyright grounds, and its privacy regulator has taken a firm line on scraped personal information.

This guide explains PIPEDA and the provincial privacy acts, the Copyright Act, the Criminal Code, and the two scraping cases every Canadian data team should know. General information current as of October 2026, not legal advice. The cross-jurisdiction overview is Is Web Scraping Legal? What the Law Actually Says.

Quick answer

Canada permits scraping of public, factual data, but three things distinguish it. First, Canadian courts enforce website terms more readily than US courts: in Century 21 v. Rogers(BCSC 2011) a real-estate search engine with notice of Century 21’s terms was held bound by them and liable for scraping listings. Second, copyright bites on scraped images: in Trader v. CarGurus(ONSC 2017) CarGurus paid statutory damages for displaying dealer photographs it had scraped. Third, PIPEDA treats scraped personal information as a commercial collection requiring consent, and the narrow “publicly available information” exception excludes social media; the federal and provincial commissioners found Clearview AI’s scraping unlawful in 2021. The Criminal Code offence of unauthorised computer use requires fraud or circumvention and does not reach polite reading of public pages. Facts remain free; there is no database right and no text-and-data-mining exception.

Which Canadian laws govern web scraping?

Law	What it covers	What it means for scrapers
PIPEDA (Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act)	Collection, use and disclosure of personal information in commercial activity	Consent required. Publicly-available exception is limited to directories, registries, court records and publications (Regulations SOR/2001-7). Social media and most websites are not covered.
Provincial acts: Quebec Law 25, Alberta PIPA, BC PIPA	Substantially similar private-sector privacy laws	Quebec adds privacy impact assessments, a privacy officer, and penalties up to C$10M or 2% of turnover. Apply alongside PIPEDA for residents of those provinces.
Copyright Act	Original works showing skill and judgment (CCH v. Law Society, 2004); fair dealing for listed purposes	Facts are free. Photos, descriptions and articles are protected. Statutory damages up to C$20,000 per work for commercial infringement (Trader v. CarGurus). No TDM exception.
Criminal Code, ss. 342.1 and 430(1.1)	Unauthorised use of a computer; mischief in relation to computer data	Requires fraudulent intent or lack of colour of right. Stolen credentials, defeated access controls and deliberate disruption qualify; public pages do not.
Contract law	Website terms of use, including browsewrap	Enforced against a scraper with notice of the terms (Century 21 v. Rogers). The most predictable claim an operator can bring.
Tort: trespass to chattels, unjust enrichment	Interference with servers; free-riding on a competitor's investment	Pleaded in Century 21; trespass requires measurable harm. Secondary to contract and copyright.

What have Canadian courts decided about scraping?

Century 21 Canada v. Rogers Communications (BCSC 2011). Zoocasa, a Rogers subsidiary, scraped property listings and photographs from Century 21’s website to populate a search site. Century 21’s terms of use, linked from every page, prohibited automated access. The court held that Zoocasa had notice of the terms, that continuing to access the site after that notice constituted acceptance, and that scraping breached the contract. It also found copyright infringement in the listing photographs and descriptions, and awarded damages. Canada is therefore a jurisdiction where browsewrap can bind.

Trader Corporation v. CarGurus (ONSC 2017). CarGurus indexed vehicle listings from dealer websites, including photographs in which Trader (autoTRADER.ca) held copyright, and displayed them on its own site. The court found infringement and awarded statutory damages of C$2 per photograph, roughly C$305,000 across 152,000 images, rejecting the argument that CarGurus was a mere information-location tool. The case is the standard citation for the proposition that scraping and re-displaying images is copyright infringement regardless of whether the underlying facts are free.

Joint investigation into Clearview AI (OPC, CAI, OIPC BC, OIPC Alberta, February 2021).The four commissioners found that Clearview’s scraping of more than three billion facial images for a recognition service was a collection without consent, for an inappropriate purpose, and not covered by the publicly-available exception. Clearview withdrew from Canada. Provincial orders requiring deletion were upheld on judicial review in British Columbia in 2023.

Can I scrape personal information in Canada?

PIPEDA applies to the collection of personal information in the course of commercial activity and requires meaningful consent. The exceptions in section 7 and the Regulations Specifying Publicly Available Information are narrow: telephone and business directories where the individual can opt out, professional and business registries, court and tribunal records, and information in publications such as magazines and newspapers where the individual provided it. A LinkedIn profile, a forum post, or a company team page is not publicly available information in this sense. The Office of the Privacy Commissioner has repeated this in its 2023 joint statement with global regulators on data scraping and in its 2024 guidance on generative AI.

Business contact information (name, title, work address, work email, work phone) is excluded from PIPEDA when collected and used solely to communicate with the person about their employment or business. That exclusion is the basis on which B2B enrichment operates; it does not cover personal emails, photos, or inferences about the person. Quebec’s Law 25 requires a privacy impact assessment before any project involving personal information and carries penalties that make it the most consequential provincial regime.

Copyright: facts free, photos not

The Supreme Court in CCH Canadian v. Law Society of Upper Canada(2004) set originality at “skill and judgment”: more than mere copying, less than creativity. Prices, specifications, addresses and timetables fail that test. Product photographs, descriptions written by a person, reviews and articles pass it. Canada has no sui generis database right, so a compilation of unprotected facts is itself protected only if the selection or arrangement shows skill and judgment. Fair dealing covers research, private study, education, parody, criticism, review and news reporting; there is no text-and-data-mining exception, and the 2021–22 government consultation on one did not produce legislation. Bill C-27, which would have reformed PIPEDA and introduced AI rules, died when Parliament was prorogued in January 2025.

When does scraping become a criminal matter?

Section 342.1 of the Criminal Code requires that the accused acted fraudulently and without colour of right. Reading pages that a site publishes to the world is not fraudulent. Using credentials you obtained improperly, defeating authentication, or disguising a scraper to defeat a targeted block moves towards the offence. Section 430(1.1) covers mischief in relation to computer data, including obstructing lawful use, which an aggressive scraper could trigger. Rate-limit, identify your crawler, and stay logged out.

Checklist for scraping Canadian websites

Read the terms before scraping. In Canada, notice can be enough; if the site prohibits automated access, assume the clause is enforceable.
Scrape facts and fields. Do not download or re-display photographs, descriptions, or articles.
Treat personal information as requiring consent unless it falls within the business-contact exclusion or the narrow publicly-available regulations.
For Quebec residents, complete a privacy impact assessment and designate a privacy officer before processing.
Stay logged out, respect blocks, and rate-limit to avoid any Criminal Code argument.
Stop on a demand letter and take advice; continued access after notice was the losing fact in Century 21.

Engineering guidance is in Web Scraping Best Practices.

Frequently asked questions

Is web scraping illegal in Canada?: No. Canada has no statute that bans web scraping. Scraping public facts is lawful. Liability arises under PIPEDA and provincial privacy laws for personal information, the Copyright Act for creative content, the Criminal Code for unauthorised computer use, and contract law for website terms, which Canadian courts have enforced against scrapers.
Is scraping personal information legal under PIPEDA?: Only with consent or within a narrow exception. PIPEDA requires knowledge and consent for commercial collection of personal information. The publicly available information exception covers directories, registries, court records and publications, not social media profiles. The Privacy Commissioner found Clearview AI's scraping unlawful in 2021 on exactly this basis.
Do website terms bind a scraper in Canada?: Yes, and Canadian courts have been willing to enforce browsewrap terms. In Century 21 v. Rogers Communications (2011) the BC Supreme Court held that Zoocasa was bound by Century 21's website terms, which it had notice of, and had breached them by scraping listings.
Is scraped content protected by copyright in Canada?: Facts are not. Original works, including photographs and descriptions that show skill and judgment under CCH v. Law Society (2004), are. In Trader v. CarGurus (2017) the Ontario Superior Court awarded statutory damages against CarGurus for displaying scraped dealer photographs. Canada has no text-and-data-mining exception.
Can scraping be a crime in Canada?: Section 342.1 of the Criminal Code criminalises fraudulently and without colour of right obtaining a computer service or intercepting a function of a computer system. Reading public pages is not fraudulent. Using stolen credentials, defeating access controls, or deliberately disrupting a service can be, and section 430(1.1) covers mischief in relation to data.
Does Quebec have different rules?: Yes. Law 25 modernised Quebec's private-sector privacy law with GDPR-style obligations: privacy impact assessments, a designated privacy officer, consent requirements, and administrative penalties of up to C$10 million or 2% of worldwide turnover. Scraping personal information about Quebec residents engages it in addition to PIPEDA.