Posted on 03/24/2009 7:01:42 AM PDT by Sir Gawain
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A judge has ordered Free Dominion, the Canadian counterpart to Free Republic, to release the records of its anonymous forum posters in order to enable a lawsuit by Richard Warman. The release will mean the end of anonymity for all practical purposes in Canada, as well as an end to privacy for Free Dominion itself, which must also produce all its hosting agreements and ownership information as well. The judge offered this ironic justification for his order:
[33] In the case before the court, we are dealing with an anti-hate speech advocate and Defendants whose website is so controversial that it is blocked to employees of the Ontario Public Service.
That’s the threshold for privacy in Canada? Anyone styling themselves as an “anti-hate speech advocate” can raid the records of a web community he doesn’t like? Note also the circular reasoning here employed by Judge Stanley Kersham. If the government sees fit to block a website from its employees at some level, then it’s permissible to strip them of their rights to privacy and speech at any point.
As far as the “anti-hate-speech” advocate himself, Kersham seems to have missed this finding by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal from just two weeks ago. Richard Warman was not just a customer of the CHRC, he was one of its big offenders as well:
I do not see any acceptable reason for Mr. Warman to have participated on the Stormfront or Vanguard sites, since there appears to be ample easily obtained messages on these sites available without his involvement. Moreover, it is possible that his activity in this regard, could have precipitated further hate messages in response. His explanation for including other hate messages in his postings by mistake seems very weak to me.
Mr. Warman has, with the assistance of the Commission, instituted most of the s. 13 (1) complaints under the Act that have come before the Tribunal. He has been very successful in these cases and has garnered accolades for his work in this regard. The evidence in this case of his participation on Internet sites similar to the Northern Alliance site is both disappointing and disturbing. It diminishes his credibility. For this reason and because the activities of the Respondents have ceased for a lengthy period of time, I will not make any further Orders in this matter.
In essence, Kersham just allowed a participant on neo-Nazi discussion forums to raid Free Dominion’s business records.
Free Dominion wants to fight this ruling but is just about out of funds. Read their entire post to find out how you can help, and keep up with the story at Five Feet of Fury as well. If you haven’t already done so, order your copy of Ezra Levant’s Shakedown, which has more on the Human Rights Commission, its tribunal, and Richard Warman.
Absolutely true- we have entered "interesting times..."
“The Free Dominion server is in Panama.”
You area correct.
What I can’t understand is how can Canada get its hands on this information? There are secrecy laws in Panama.
Maybe they don’t know and assume it is still in Canada.
And you believe them? It’s Minitrue
Is it possible to track his enrollments on Conservative sites so as to pull his baiting statements?
It would be nice to hang him with his own statements!
Words...words...words (don’t) have meaning!
This isn't the Canadian government. It's the Supreme Court of Ontario. Warman want's to file a suite against some FD posters and he doesn't have a clue who they are.
This is good. . This isn't the Ontario Human Rights star chamber. It's a real court where Warman will not only pay but be held accountable for his words and actions, in Discovery and Court and when he loses , the defendants costs.
ocrap
I wonder if the owner of the FR website would turn over membership records to the US government on demand? Such a thing could be literally dangerous to us.
I thought that was why Connie and Mark moved the server.
Connie?
er, yup.
Yes, if the secret service asked for them.
Jim posted a thread about it.
There are circumstances where he must, and has.
Regarding salty talk aimed at the president (or other officials) vs visits from the SS by Jim Robinson
I did a little research on offshore hosting in Panama.
I do not know this company, but as I ran through them, they all said the same thing:
_________________________________________
The Panama Advantage
Tax-friendly offshore hosting with strong privacy and world-class connectivity
Panama is world renowned as a major ‘tax-free’ jurisdiction with tens of thousands of enterprises already installed.
Panama enforces some of the most strict privacy laws in the world, making it illegal to share information with third parties. Panama is strategically located at the crossroads of North and South America where four major sub-ocean fiber-optic networks meet.
The combination of tax-free, strong privacy and network connectivity benefits are a huge incentive for any e-business selling information, products or services internationally to get web hosting offshore here from Panama-based Hub.Org.
Key advantages of Hub.Org operating in jurisdiction of Panama —
• Tax-Free Business Opportunities
Panama is known all over the world as an international business tax haven. Since taxes in Panama are assessed according to territoriality guidelines (ie only locally produced income may be taxed), foreign-source income is considered tax-free. as the government does not levy income taxes on businesses hosting their websites in Panama.
Unlike in the US, Canada, Australia, Europe, and other G-7 nations, where regulators have created laws that tax online businesses hosted in their country, hosting your website in Panama allows you to run your e-business tax-free.
“Businesses can now have North American connectivity speeds and reliability in a tax-friendly environment.” - Ian Lenathan (Ex - manager, Nortel Networks Corp.)
• World-Class Connectivity
Panama has historically played a major role as a transportation and communication center, connecting the North and South American continents, as well as the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Today Panama continues its pivotal role as a communications leader, sitting atop the intersection of over 4 major undersea fiber-optic networks. Thus Panama has some of the best fiber-optic cable access and bandwidth in the world, enabling Hub.Org to host websites easily accessable from Canada, Singapore, and Brazil.
“Why Panama? Because it’s one of the most wired places in the world. All of the fiber-optic backbones of the United States, Canada, and Latin America cross Panama. If there’s a problem inside the United States, the most obvious place to go outside is Panama.” - Nelson Bendeck (representative of Sun Tone, an arm of Sun Microsystems that is installing $500,000 worth of new server equipment and software in Panama)
• High Security
Geographically and politically, Panama is an unusually secure country for international businesses. Unlike many other popular offshore locations, Panama City is located outside of any earthquake, hurricane, and active-volcano zones. Our data center sits well above any flood zones and benefits from the advanced security infrastructure left behind in the former U.S.military-managed Canal Zone.
“Panama is one of the most secure places in the world. It has to be secure to allow international commerce to pass through the canal.” - Nelson Bendeck (a representative of Sun Tone, an arm of Sun Microsystems)
• Data Protection
Unlike the United States, Canada, and many European countries, the Panamanian government forbids outside regulatory agencies from removing, sequestering, or freezing a company’s assets (ie your website), unless a Panamanian court orders such actions.
• No Regulatory Constraints
Panama does not inflict the same high regulatory constraints for online businesses as most other countries. The country’s intellectual property laws grant online activities the freedom of free enterprise and free speech, liberties that are increasingly threatened in other parts of the world.
• Advanced Data Center Technology
Our servers are located at a high level security center based in the former Fort Clayton U.S. military base along the Panama Canal. The data center is fully protected from general power failures through the use of redundant power sources and backup power provisions. The facilities are constructed to meet seismic zone 3 criteria and have Point of Presence access to four major undersea fiber optic networks.Good luck to the Canadian government in trying to get information.
http://www.hub.org/en/home/panama.php
_____________________________________________
Panama does not take orders from the Canadian government.
FD moved its operations to Panama several years ago just in case of such an assault, so I don’t see how this can proceed. Unless Connie and Mark brought it back after the Warman loss in the tribunal.
Thanks for posting. Interesting.
Question:
If Free Dominion had a “room” on FreeRepublic - would it subject them and us to sanction or legal charges?
Is the U.S. liable in Canadian law?
Thanks for the link, Nully.
For those inside the beltway, this is a clear indication of a change in policy by the administration. They don’t want a GWOT, they are indicating where their line in the sand is; to support temporary contingencies but not a global war against the jihadist terror network. Words from the executive do have meaning.
For FreeDominion to be secure, then they would need to not have any operations staff or owners be within reach of Canadian authorities.
Please see my post #33.
That is exactly why those folks moved their server off shore.
Therefore, I don’t understand the problem.
Either the Canadian government is bluffing, or they don’t know what they are doing.
I don’t know why the move to hire lawyers when Panamanian law makes it illegal to divulge offshore hosting information.
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