Robert Pickton. If his name means nothing to you, and you are not from Canada, that’s no surprise. But if a Canadian court’s press ban is successful, the name Robert Pickton won’t mean much more to Canadian citizens either, despite the fact that he is the focus of a sensational murder trial in Vancouver right now.

Many people outside Canada, and particularly in the United States, are not aware of this but the good citizens of Canada do not enjoy the same prohibition against prior restraint of press (i.e. a press ban) as do those in the United States. This means that the Canadian press can have a press ban issued against it, being told in advance “you cannot write about this”.

Yes, really.

This is something which is no surprise to Canadians, and others in many parts of the world, but which is completely alien to United States citizens.

And so it was, several years ago, for example, that the Canadian courts issued a press ban in the infamous case of Karla Homolka, and her Svengali-style lover whom, she claimed, convinced her to…

[Canadian Press Banned from Linking to Non-Canadian Sites Talking about Canadian Robert Pickton Murder Trial, Continued]