To be fair, I've always thought that warrant canaries were extremely questionable legally. If the government can legally say "You're not allowed to spill the beans about this", then using a warrant canary is directly subverting that order.
As a result, I always assumed that anyone that had a warrant canary in place would get a court order to keep it up regardless.
I would be shocked if they stood up in court, and I don't find the outlawing of it any more disturbing than allowing secret warrants in the first place. (Although secret warrants are pretty damn disturbing.)
Theoretically an order compelling speech, especially false speech, scares courts more than prohibiting speech in certain circumstances, which happens frequently.
I may be wrong but in the Australian case it seems journalists are forbidden from creating a canary in the first place, they cannot say they did or did not receive a gag order. That's what I got from what I've read but not sure.
If the issue was being forced to continue with the canary then there is a solution for that just use as a canary, before you received any order: We have received a gag order!
And when you do receive a gag order what are they going to do? Make you remove that? Keeping it seems as a direct violation of that order.
As a result, I always assumed that anyone that had a warrant canary in place would get a court order to keep it up regardless.
I would be shocked if they stood up in court, and I don't find the outlawing of it any more disturbing than allowing secret warrants in the first place. (Although secret warrants are pretty damn disturbing.)