Canada Bans the Flipper Zero

Oh Canada, why‽

Canada has banned the Flipper Zero, because of car theft…

As far as I know, the device itself was not named in the law. However, it was named online.

Criminals have been using sophisticated tools to steal cars. And Canadians are rightfully worried.

Today, I announced we are banning the importation, sale and use of consumer hacking devices, like flippers, used to commit these crimes. François-Philippe Champagne (FPC)

Flipper Devices (makers of the Flipper Zero) responded.

Dear François-Philippe,

We’d appreciate it if you could provide any evidence of Flipper Zero being involved in any criminal activities of this kind. We’re not aware of any events like this and frankly speaking not sure what was the reason for this discussion to begin with. Flipper Zero

The Flipper Zero isn’t a tool used to steal cars. While yes, it does have a configurable sub-ghz radio. The Flipper, out of the box, doesn’t support rolling codes, used by car keys.

You can install third party firmware, that adds support for rolling code generation. The main issue is, in order for a Flipper with third party firmware to clone the key. You need the key. At that point, you might has well just take the key.

Here’s a good video by Seytonic that goes over this.

Come on Canada, you can do better than this.