'Right to be forgotten' could threaten global free speech, say NGOs

Re:'Right to be forgotten' could threaten global free speech... by ocdtrekkie on Monday September 10, 2018 @12:56PM (#17953168)

I'm not "missing" that. A country can set any criteria it wants upon a company that wishes to operate within it's borders. Including criteria that demands how that company behaves in other countries.

The U.S. does the same, and expects the same. In the scenario of this case, Canada is demanding that Google remove infringement of a Canadian citizen's copyright from Google's server. Similarly, the U.S. is well-known for aggressively pursuing entities in other country's for violating U.S. copyright protections.

Google is not the good guy here, they're trying to protect their ability to distribute pirated content. And they have no legal basis for their refusal to comply.

Note that Canada has not stated that data on a US server must be censored "when a Canadian connects to it". Canada has stated that Google must remove the data from all of their servers, regardless of where it is accessed. Aka, it is not okay to pirate a Canadian citizen's content even when it's on a US server and being accessed by a US citizen.

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Re:'Right to be forgotten' could threaten global free speech... by true_religion on Monday September 10, 2018 @08:37PM (#17956287)

This really ought to be a concern of national export policy, as negotiated by governments. Google got the injuction for US services so they can hide behind US government policy and law as is appropriate.

If the US wants its companies to comply with the standards of Canada, thats a topic for legislation... not something that ought to given by default.

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