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Top Canadian Court Permits Worldwide Internet Censorship
Wolf Street ^ | 28 June 2017 | Aaron Mackey and Corynne McSherry and Vera Ranieri

Posted on 06/30/2017 7:51:22 AM PDT by Lorianne

A country has the right to prevent the world’s Internet users from accessing information, Canada’s highest court ruled on Wednesday.

In a decision that has troubling implications for free expression online, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a company’s effort to force Google to de-list entire domains and websites from its search index, effectively making them invisible to everyone using Google’s search engine

The case, Google v. Equustek, began when British Columbia-based Equustek Solutions accused Morgan Jack and others, known as the Datalink defendants, of selling counterfeit Equustek routers online. It claimed California-based Google facilitated access to the defendants’ sites. The defendants never appeared in court to challenge the claim, allowing default judgment against them, which meant Equustek effectively won without the court ever considering whether the claim was valid.

A country has the right to prevent the world’s Internet users from accessing information, Canada’s highest court ruled on Wednesday.

In a decision that has troubling implications for free expression online, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a company’s effort to force Google to de-list entire domains and websites from its search index, effectively making them invisible to everyone using Google’s search engine

The case, Google v. Equustek, began when British Columbia-based Equustek Solutions accused Morgan Jack and others, known as the Datalink defendants, of selling counterfeit Equustek routers online. It claimed California-based Google facilitated access to the defendants’ sites. The defendants never appeared in court to challenge the claim, allowing default judgment against them, which meant Equustek effectively won without the court ever considering whether the claim was valid.

SNIP


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS:
Originally published on Electronic Frontier Foundation
1 posted on 06/30/2017 7:51:22 AM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne

Sounds like banning busses because they transported a criminal once...


2 posted on 06/30/2017 7:53:55 AM PDT by Quality_Not_Quantity (I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired.)
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To: Lorianne; Former Proud Canadian; JudyinCanada
I don't understand how Canada will go about enforcing this.I know that in China,for example,the government blocks all sorts of things...particularly things critical of the government.

For example,if you google "Tienanmen Square" in most countries you'll get,among other things,articles about the bloody massacre in 1989.But google it in *China* and all you'll find are articles about how beautiful it is.

Is that the route that Canada will take?

3 posted on 06/30/2017 7:59:32 AM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Comey = The Swamp Fighting Back)
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To: Lorianne

Yes, only Government approved information shall be available to the Proles.


4 posted on 06/30/2017 7:59:35 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: All

5 posted on 06/30/2017 8:00:01 AM PDT by mainestategop (DonÂ’t Let Freedom Slip Away! After America , There is No Place to Go)
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To: Lorianne

I assume this only applies to capitalist businesses and not to censoring jihadist recruiting sites. /sarc


6 posted on 06/30/2017 8:00:13 AM PDT by LostPassword
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To: Lorianne
"The defendants never appeared in court to challenge the claim, allowing default judgment against them, which meant Equustek effectively won without the court ever considering whether the claim was valid."

It sounds here like Google has not intention of acknowledging this court, this case or this order.

7 posted on 06/30/2017 8:00:26 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Gay State Conservative

Perhaps Canada will establish an agency to oversee this effort. Perhaps call it the Ministry of Truth (MiniTru, for short).


8 posted on 06/30/2017 8:01:31 AM PDT by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Lorianne

I guess the court isn’t familiar with the origin of the12 days of Christmas to know how effective this will be.


9 posted on 06/30/2017 8:02:42 AM PDT by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: Lorianne

So, can a Non-Canadian, dissatisfied with someone or something on the Internet in their own or some other country, come to Canada, file suit and get it banned or blocked?.....................


10 posted on 06/30/2017 8:02:56 AM PDT by Red Badger (Unless you eat The Bread of Life, you are toast!.......................)
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To: Gay State Conservative
"I don't understand how Canada will go about enforcing this."

There will be no enforcement. What you have to understand is that this arose from a civil matter, not a criminal one. "Enforcement' of civil disputes is up to the parties involved, not law enforcement. Sanctions will be limited to damages assessed against the parties involved. Even if Google gets sanctioned or fined, there are literally hundreds of other search engines where these results will turn up. Then there is the dark web.

Google has become a big, fat, worldwide target. Look at the fines just levied by the Euros on Google.

11 posted on 06/30/2017 8:10:55 AM PDT by Former Proud Canadian (Islam delenda est.)
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To: Red Badger

Maybe so.
Canada is very anti free speech.


12 posted on 06/30/2017 8:11:32 AM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne

Wait until the commies find out there are more than just one search engines.


13 posted on 06/30/2017 8:13:42 AM PDT by deadrock (I is someone else.)
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To: Army Air Corps

They already had that.
It was called British Columbia Human Rights Commission and that’s the quasi-court that tried to go after Mark Steyn for his book America Alone.

Canada seems like a nice quiet country but it actually has very totalitarian tendencies.


14 posted on 06/30/2017 8:16:20 AM PDT by Lorianne
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To: Lorianne

Canada is going to have a Trump like political swing in it’s next prime minister election.


15 posted on 06/30/2017 8:59:32 AM PDT by Rebelbase (Climate Change: The Imminent Crisis That Never Arrives and the gravy train that never ends.)
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To: Lorianne

What arrogance even to think that they have a right to control everyone else’s internet.


16 posted on 06/30/2017 9:01:41 AM PDT by Socon-Econ
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To: circlecity

I hope not. This is how the globalists are going to achieve dominance-they will just do end-runs around countries like the US, where we still have freedom of speech (at least, comparatively speaking). They will just go nations like Canada which are succumbing to loss of freedom, get court orders which affect global entities and what they do. The entities will eventually find it easier to comply (if they’re not already complicit with the agenda anyway), and this will affect nations like the US.


17 posted on 06/30/2017 9:09:49 AM PDT by mrsmel (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn. I hate autocorrect.)
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To: deadrock

Google usage at this point is really just a lazy habit. I used to be really impressed with what could befound with google. A few years back they made some changes that have made it decreasingly useful to the point of near uselessness now. Lately Ive found others to be just as good or better at finding relevant results.


18 posted on 06/30/2017 9:44:34 AM PDT by gnarledmaw (Hive minded liberals worship leaders, sovereign conservatives elect servants.)
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