Privacy law applies to Google results
OTTAWA • A federal judge says the results of Google searches are covered by the law governing how companies handle personal information, a victory for people seeking a digital “right to be forgotten.”
Privacy commissioner Daniel Therrien referred the matter to the Federal Court after a man alleged Google was breaching Canada’s privacy law by prominently displaying links about him when his name is searched.
He said the articles were inaccurate and disclosed sensitive information about his sexual orientation and a serious medical condition, causing him direct harm including assault, lost job opportunities and social stigma. The man asked Google to remove the articles in question from the results for searches of his name, but the company declined, suggesting instead that he contact the publishers of the news items.
In her newly issued ruling, Federal Court Associate Chief Justice Jocelyne Gagné said federal privacy law applies when Google indexes web pages and presents search results in response to searches of a person’s name.
Gagné cautioned that her ruling does not determine the outcome of the complaint that sparked the reference or the power of the commissioner to recommend de-indexing — removing a link from search results.
The commissioner’s investigation of the case, as well as probes of several other complaints related to search results, were put on hold pending the outcome of the court reference.
The issue of a right to the de-indexing inaccurate or out-of-date information — the right to be forgotten — will be examined once Therrien resumes investigating, said spokeswoman Tobi Cohen.
Google had contended the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act doesn’t apply to its search engine and that requiring the company to de-index web pages would be unconstitutional.
Google argued the act does not apply in this case because the operation of its search engine is not a “commercial activity” under the law’s provisions.
Google added that the search service is exempt under another provision of the law because it is a journalistic or literary operation.
Finally, the U.s.-based company said even if the privacy law applies to its search engine and requires de-indexing of search results, that would contravene free expression guarantees in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Even if Google provides free services to the content providers and the user of the search engine, it has “a flagrant commercial interest” in connecting these two players, Gagné wrote.
She also rejected the notion of a journalistic exemption from the law.
The primary purpose of Google’s search engine service is to index and present search results, Gagné wrote.