Earlier quoted context omitted.
So if Google operates a subsidiary in China, they should be completely immune from a lawsuit in the US, if say, they sell your private personal info to the highest bidder in that nation? I don't see how that could be abused...
Your question at the moment is ill-defined. Carefully expand out the nationalities of the "you" who is buying the info, the nationalities of the person whom the info is about, the nationality of the subsidiary from which the information is being purchased, and the nationality under which you believe they should be suable. ("Jurisdiction", if you prefer, may replace "nationality".) There's a lot of combinations in the…
Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
21–30 of 75 posts
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#22Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. Google should have subsidiaries in each nation it operates and obey the local law - nothing more and nothing less. Canadia courts should not have an effect on Mexico, and Iranian courts should not have an effect on the US. Google can sell/offer it's services anywhere as long as it's legal.
So if Google operates a subsidiary in China, they should be completely immune from a lawsuit in the US, if say, they sell your private personal info to the highest bidder in that nation? I don't see how that could be abused...
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#23Terrible ruling, do they even understand how the internet works? Oh well, when you're a global company, this is the BS you have to deal with.
Are you saying it's impossible for Google to block some results globally? Because even if I may agree with the sentiment, I don't see how technology is the problem here–differences in law are. And if technology were the problem, that'd be the weakest possible argument. Where ever possible, technology need to evolve to serve what society (democratically) decides. You and I may not agree with this specific decision, bu…
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#24Is this even enforceable?
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#25This needs to be rejected whole sale. One nation does NOT have the authority to dictate what a company can do outside of it's borders and concerns. The censorship issues that have been cropping up lately in these regards are appalling. The "hate speech" legislature of many EU nations comes to mind. If that insanity were to be enforced "world wide" it's seriously time for new service providers to step up that aren't s…
The actually do, that's inherent in the nature of sovereignty. You can eliminate the practical effect of that by adopting a single shared global sovereign regime, but that idea is controversial even in the abstract, and in concrete detail even moreso, as those who agree that such a thing is desirable disagree violently on the character that such a regime should have, and mostly view not having one as better than having the wrong one, so we are stuck in a system of multiple sovereigns.
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#26The point of the ruling could be summarized this way: "If you wish to do business in Canada, with a web business that's visible in Canada, then there are certain practices you can't be guilty of elsewhere or in general."
This isn't new. For example, it is commonplace for governments to forbid domestic contracts with businesses who, elsewhere in the world, employ bribery in their ordinary course of business. Same general concept here. Don't be too surprised if tactics like this emerge elsewhere to combat online gambling, for example, since gamblers and online gambling companies have been adept at getting around superficial blocks.
It's also commonplace to allow lawsuits in the U.S. that seek to penalize governments and other institutions for conduct that happened outside the U.S., but affected people in the U.S.
A previous parallel issue in Canada concerns the publication of Federal Election results; I don't know how energetic Canada has been in enforcing it lately, but the idea was to not allow Canadian media or ISPs to facilitate publishing any election results outside a given Province until the whole country had voted, since voters in the West might not even go to the polls if they knew that the election had already been decided by votes in the East. (Canada spans a lot of time zones.)
Given the difficulty of limiting information exchange over the internet there aren't many alternatives to rulings that take into consideration a company's conduct elsewhere before allowing them to freely communicate in one's own country.
Whether you like the specific reason (trigger) for this principle being invoked is an entirely different question I don't address here; but yes the principle is logically coherent and enforceable.
It's also interesting to think about the controversial Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act in the U.S. in this regard.
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#27Its interesting that Google is making a 'freedom of expression' argument when they themselves heavily censor YouTube content. Google controls the platform their users use, and the Government controls the 'platform' that both companies and users use. I suppose nobody cares about the users in both cases.
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#28Its interesting that Google is making a 'freedom of expression' argument when they themselves heavily censor YouTube content. Google controls the platform their users use, and the Government controls the 'platform' that both companies and users use. I suppose nobody cares about the users in both cases.
Google, similarly, wants the freedom to express itself on its own servers.
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#29This needs to be rejected whole sale. One nation does NOT have the authority to dictate what a company can do outside of it's borders and concerns. The censorship issues that have been cropping up lately in these regards are appalling. The "hate speech" legislature of many EU nations comes to mind. If that insanity were to be enforced "world wide" it's seriously time for new service providers to step up that aren't s…
> One nation does NOT have the authority to dictate what a company can do outside of it's borders and concerns. The actually do, that's inherent in the nature of sovereignty. You can eliminate the practical effect of that by adopting a single shared global sovereign regime, but that idea is controversial even in the abstract, and in concrete detail even moreso, as those who agree that such a thing is desirable disagr…
For example, Germany ordered Project Gutenberg to remove certain books from its servers or to make them unavailable to Germans. I maintain a full mirror of Project Gutenberg and I make the banned books available to Germans. If Germany sent me a personal letter demanding I cease and desist, I'd ignore it. If the United States demanded I cease and desist on Germany's behalf, I wouldn't ignore it. But the latter doesn't seem like "Germany's sovereignty" to me.
Re: Google can be forced to pull results globally, Canada supreme court rules
#30Yes, the Canadian courts understand precisely how the internet works... through Canadian ISPs who can be forced block traffic from some companies and not others. The point of the ruling could be summarized this way: "If you wish to do business in Canada, with a web business that's visible in Canada, then there are certain practices you can't be guilty of elsewhere or in general." This isn't new. For example, it is co…
sounds great and all until oppressive regimes use this to do censor content they don't like. how long until russia/china/iran sends a rubberstampped a court order to censor a politcal candidate's advertisements because [made up reason]?.