Supreme Court allows ban on Internet use to be applied retroactively

The Supreme Court took steps Thursday to bring the law up to speed to protect children in the rapidly evolving realm of cyberspace in a ruling allowing judges to ban convicted sexual predators from using the Internet.

The case turned on one narrow legal issue — whether a new law can be retroactively applied to case that predated it.

As a matter legal principle, the high court rarely allows laws to be applied retroactively, especially when it comes to changes in criminal law on how punishment is to be meted out.

But in Thursday’s 7-2 ruling, the court made an exception, saying the retroactive imposition of a ban on Internet usage was called for because of “grave, emerging harms precipitated by a rapidly evolving social and technological context.”

The 2009 case centered on a British Columbia man who pleaded guilty in an incest and child pornography case involving a victim under the age of 16. There is a court-ordered publication ban on information identifying the victim.

The man was sentenced to nine years in prison.

The trial judge also banned the man for seven years from using a computer to communicate with children under 16. That additional sentence was based on pre-2012 Criminal Code provisions that prevented sex offenders from having contact with children.

That older provision did not explicitly ban Internet use.

After the man was convicted, the Conservative government introduced the Safe Streets and Communities Act, which did create such a penalty.