Liberal bill would force companies to simplify data access for police. No one knows the cost

The Liberal government's second attempt at giving police and spies easier access to Canadians' information includes what's anticipated to be costly demands on a range of private businesses to to change how they manage their data.

But the government says it doesn't yet know how much the companies — or Canadian taxpayers — would have to pay.

"The costs are potentially huge," said Michael Geist, the University of Ottawa’s Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-commerce Law, and a vocal critic of the bill.

"That has competition-related effects in terms of who bears those costs. Will they exempt certain providers? It gets very messy very quickly."