Google Must Delete Search Results Worldwide, Supreme Court of Canada Rules (fortune.com)

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled against Google on Wednesday in a closely-watched intellectual property case over whether judges can apply their own country's laws to all of the internet. From a report: In a 7-2 decision, the court agreed a British Columbia judge had the power to issue an injunction forcing Google to scrub search results about pirated products not just in Canada, but everywhere else in the world too. Those siding with Google, including civil liberties groups, had warned that allowing the injunction would harm free speech, setting a precedent to let any judge anywhere order a global ban on what appears on search engines. The Canadian Supreme Court, however, downplayed this objection and called Google's fears "theoretical." "This is not an order to remove speech that, on its face, engages freedom of expression values, it is an order to de-index websites that are in violation of several court orders. We have not, to date, accepted that freedom of expression requires the facilitation of the unlawful sale of goods," wrote Judge Rosalie Abella.

Comments

Delete all references to Canada

[jfdavis668]

Google should delete all references to Canada. Wipe them off the face of the map. Blame Canada!

Re:Delete all references to Canada

[Kierthos]

Blame who?

Horrifying

[Geoffrey.landis]

This is quite horrifying. If Canada thinks that Canadian courts can order Google to delete results everywhere in the world, then the same argument says Chinese courts can order Google to delete results everywhere in the world.

Re:Horrifying

[petes_PoV]

The USA already enforces its laws on the RoW, so it's reasonable for any other country to do the same.

The US decided on its own that any data which touches american soil is subject to american laws. This has been tested in the financial world where transactions that were legal in the country they took place were "bounced" in and out of the USA and the yanks deemed that they therefore were subject to their laws, which did not allow that activity to be legal.

The individuals in question were extradited to the US, and such is the extreme cost to defendants to produce witnesses and to support a lawsuit - esp. against the federal government and even more so when all those witnesses are from another country (and therefore have to be transported and accommodated at the defendants' expense for the duration of the trial), that they were unable to defend themselves and had to plea bargain a jail sentence.

Look up the Natwest three
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

So Canada agrees with the U.S.

[Solandri]

The Canadian Supreme Court, however, downplayed this objection and called Google's fears "theoretical." "This is not an order to remove speech that, on its face, engages freedom of expression values, it is an order to de-index websites that are in violation of several court orders. We have not, to date, accepted that freedom of expression requires the facilitation of the unlawful sale of goods," wrote Judge Rosalie Abella.

So Canada agrees with the U.S. that Canadian pharmacies illegally selling prescription drugs to Americans should be de-indexed from Google worldwide.

Whether this is a free speech or an illegal trade is irrelevant and a straw man. The key issue is whether another country can apply their laws in your country. Maybe considering a case with Canada on the benefiting end of the "illegal" trade might give the judges some perspective.