Google Case Asks: Can Europe Export Privacy Rules World-Wide?

Google will appeal an order to extend the European Union’s “right to be forgotten” to its search engines across the globe, arguing before the EU’s top court that the order encourages countries to assert sovereignty beyond their borders. National laws used to stop at the border. In cyberspace, they increasingly stretch around the world, as regulators in Europe, the US and Canada have started asserting legal authority over the internet across country lines. That is thrusting global tech firms into a potentially costly legal morass, and setting the stage for conflict over who will—or should—regulate everything from free speech and privacy to cybercrime and taxes.