Overview
- Psiphon disclosed Tuesday, October 6, 2026 that it has begun formal planning to relocate its operations out of Canada if Bill C-22 is passed unchanged.
- Bill C-22 would require telecoms and a broad range of electronic service providers to build technical capabilities to allow police and CSIS access to user data as authorized by law.
- Psiphon says its public code means any compelled access would be visible to outsiders and therefore become a published vulnerability that could endanger millions of users in countries such as Iran, China, Russia and Myanmar.
- Several privacy-focused services including Signal, NordVPN, Windscribe, Proton VPN and DuckDuckGo have warned they may withdraw or limit services, while Ottawa says the bill does not permit mass surveillance and includes exemptions for systemic vulnerabilities.
- If providers move or remove services, users who rely on these tools for safety and free expression could lose protections and Canada risks losing tech projects it has funded, a development that will now face scrutiny as the bill moves to the Senate.