For the first time ever, Google has been ordered to remove a website from its global search results. If you’re worried about censorship, freedom of expression and rights to access information, read on to find out what exactly happened.
On Wednesday, the Top court in Canada ordered Google to remove a website from its global search results because of a copyright protection case. Equustek Solutions, which is a Canadian telecommunications equipment manufacturer, successfully sued another company for stealing its products. Apparently, this company simply relabeled Equustek Solutions’ products and passed them off as their own.
Supreme Court then ordered Google to de-index 345 web pages that are associated with the offending company, but only in Canada. However, the offending firm then fled the country and continued to market “stolen” goods from an unknown location.
After this, Equustek Solutions asked Google to go a step further and de-index all mentions of the offending firm worldwide. But Google resisted, arguing that they’re not a party to the dispute and that such measure would be an overreach that tips the balance of freedom of expression.
However, the Supreme Court concluded: “Without the injective relief, it was clear that Google would continue to facilitate that ongoing harm. The Internet has no borders—its natural habitat is global. The only way to ensure that the interlocutory injunction attained its objective was to have it apply where Google operates—globally.”
After the ruling, some copyright organizations, civil liberties, and media groups argued that this could set the precedent: governments and various commercial entities could see this as justifying censorship.
What do you think? Is this a rightful ruling or a beginning or global censorship?
Reference:
Phys.org (https://phys.org/news/2017-06-canada-court-google-block-website.html)
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