n the past few weeks, the Canadian Supreme Court has begun pushing for international reform of Google accessibility and searches with regards to court-based fairness. The Canadian authorities have, for a long time now, been pinpointing various unethical imbalances in the favorability of certain google searches to do with lawsuits and the searches that receive a heightened presence on browsers.
The Issue with Free Speech
This issue is, of course, a highly debated one when it comes to the meaning and stipulations of free speech. A country such as the United States would have the First Amendment, which would prohibit governmental manipulation of a service that is meant to be ‘for the people, by the people. Government agencies just cannot begin editing people’s activities and opinions in a medium that is meant to be completely free from outside regulation.
However, a country such as Canada has more direct enforcement of what people say and do online and has now begun removing content deemed unethical or unsavory on platforms such as social media and the like. Both European and Canadian laws stipulate that their governments do in fact have the right to edit just what their citizens are entertaining online with regards to their safety and lawful protection.
An Essential Protection
While many may feel that the internet and the freedom of its users should not be infringed upon in any sense, the reality is that too many crimes today are being perpetrated as a result of lax regulation. For example, a recent court case involved a company stealing intellectual property from another.
When the victimized company attempted to seek legal compensation, the thieving one blocked them on various social media and renowned websites. The Canadian court then proceeded to amend such blockages and thievery and ensured that justice came to the fore, something which would not be able to happen so easily in a laissez-faire cyber environment.
What does this mean for Canadian Internet Providers?
Internet providers in Canada are in no way negatively impacted by such an increase in regulatory rulings. People will still continue with their preferred service provider. In fact, this causes a far safer and preferable service for the everyday person to exist in a more protected fashion. With the amount of predatory-minded people waiting in line for a service provider’s client to expose themselves to scams or exploitation, it can only benefit both subscribers and providers if the realms they uphold and frequent are now more secure.
In terms of the legitimacy of search engines like Google and their presence within Canada, local search efforts would not be impacted upon, unless of course, the nature of your searches is illegal or unethical. It is all about protecting citizens. From large corporations and the very real possibilities of intellectual theft to children being duped into scams or accessing explicit content, the internet can be a very dangerous place if there is no one to regulate it and remove its darker features.
