The commerce company must not follow its usual practice of deleting inactive user files after two years while its battle over a Canada Revenue Agency tax probe continues, the Federal Court of Appeal ordered. Shopify and CRA have been fighting since 2023 over a government request for merchants’ data as it checks to see whether they’re reporting financial information properly. CRA lost the last round but has filed an appeal. (The Logic)

Talking point: Judge Nathalie Goyette upbraided the government for being slow to file its preservation request, saying CRA’s delay—almost two years since learning of Shopify’s deletion practices—raises doubts that the agency is truly worried that losing the data would cause irreparable harm. She also didn’t think much of the arguments from the Justice Department’s lawyers, calling them “unclear and not of much assistance to the Court.” Nevertheless, Goyette’s decision said, keeping potential evidence intact during an appeal is in the public interest.