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Canadian Court Rules You Have the Right To Google a Lawyer

Posted by timothy on from the here-it's-one-phone-call-and-a-brandy dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Hollywood crime dramas are infamous for the scene when an accused is taken to a local police station and permitted a single phone call to contact a relative or lawyer. While the storyline is myth — there is no limit on the number of phone calls available to an accused or detainee — Michael Geist reports on a recent Canadian case establishing a new, real requirement for law enforcement. After a 19-year old struggled to find a lawyer using the telephone, the court ruled that police must provide an accused with Internet access in order to exercise their right to counsel."

4 of 105 comments (clear)

  1. Google is the new phone book by concealment · · Score: 5, Interesting

    It seems to me obvious that this should be the case; Google has for most people replaced those annoying phone books.

    The only caveat is that they should make sure they lock down the machine well...

    1. Re:Google is the new phone book by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Yes, it's necessary. Partly so the suspect can't do complex operations like transferring money to the Bahamas, partly so they can't collate and fire off complex sets of instructions to people who are *not* their lawyers, partly so they can't threaten witnesses, and primarily to prevent the police using keystroke loggers to sniff the suspect's email addresses and passwords.

      I'd be very curious to see how one could best lock down such an appliance.

    2. Re:Google is the new phone book by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I'm not seeing any particular reason that the time spent searching could not be supervised

      I'm not seeing any particular reason it would need to be supervised. The phone calls aren't. The last time I was arrested, I spent about four hours in a holding cell, and there was a row of phones along the wall. There were no restrictions on who we could call, or how long we could talk. There was no indication that the phone calls were being monitored, and it is illegal to record calls without notification.

  2. Idea for a new ASK SLASHDOT: by bickerdyke · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If you were allowed to call your lawyer, would you know who to call?

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    bickerdyke