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Publication Bans In A Borderless World

Posted by timothy on from the check-your-balances dept.

slantyyz writes "Wired has a story on a publication ban imposed by a Canadian court on the Canadian media in a well-publicized serial murder case. Now this ban doesn't apply to foreign media per se, but given the borderless nature of the Internet, it leads one to wonder about the efficacy of such a ban. Canadians clearly have access to the American media channels online. The last major publication ban occurred in the early nineties with another Canadian serial murder case involving Paul Bernardo. It was effective to the point that the Internet was still a young medium, but even then, there were a few newsgroups created that were dedicated to spreading rumours about the ongoing trial."

4 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. Blame canada!!! by joeldg · · Score: 1, Funny

    Blame canada!!! ... (sorry that just blurted out)

    --
    anime+manga together at last.. in real time.
  2. They always were ineffective by Jason1729 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I remember back when the Bernardo case was going on, people were making trips into the US to get Wired magazine.

    It was banned in Canada because it talked about the publication ban, and just happened to mention that one of the banned pieces of information was that homolka pled guilty.

    It was quite funny, customs set a limit on the number of copies of Wired you could bring across the border. They generally treated it as a controlled substance.

    Wired probably sold more copies to Canadians that month than any other time before then, which made the whole ban ineffective. I had no trouble getting my hands an a copy from a 'dealer' at school

    Jason
    ProfQuotes

  3. Nothing to fear from the US by teamhasnoi · · Score: 5, Funny
    The US is so insular, the media most likely 'discovers' Canada every couple of months.

    "Wow, did you know there is a WHOLE country just north of us?"

    Considering I have to go to the NPR/BBC to get any sort of non-corporate news, I think that Canada is safe from learning anything about themselves from the U.S. media.

    China on the other hand....

  4. Re:Seems possible enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    I'm absolutely convinced OJ would have been convicted in a Canadian court.

    Obviously! Cochran's "Chewbacca" defence is illegal here! (Not to mention I doub't he can practice law here, either)