*A judge has ordered Free Dominion, the Canadian counterpart to Free Republic, to release the recordsof its anonymous forum posters in order to enable a lawsuit by RichardWarman.
The release will mean the end of anonymity for all practicalpurposes in Canada, as well as an end to privacy for Free Dominionitself, which must also produce all its hosting agreements andownership information as well. The judge offered this ironicjustification for his order:
[33] In the case before the court, we are dealing withan anti-hate speech advocate and Defendants whose website is socontroversial that it is blocked to employees of the Ontario PublicService.
That’s the threshold for privacy in Canada? Anyone styling themselvesas an “anti-hate speech advocate” can raid the records of a webcommunity he doesn’t like? Note also the circular reasoning hereemployed by Judge Stanley Kersham. If the government sees fit to blocka website from its employees at some level, then it’s permissible tostrip 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 findingby the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal from just two weeks ago. RichardWarman 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 tohave participated on the Stormfront or Vanguard sites, since thereappears to be ample easily obtained messages on these sites availablewithout his involvement. Moreover, it is possible that his activity inthis regard, could have precipitated further hate messages in response.His explanation for including other hate messages in his postings bymistake seems very weak to me.
Mr. Warman has, with the assistance of the Commission, institutedmost of the s. 13 (1) complaints under the Act that have come beforethe Tribunal. He has been very successful in these cases and hasgarnered accolades for his work in this regard. The evidence in thiscase of his participation on Internet sites similar to the NorthernAlliance site is both disappointing and disturbing. It diminishes hiscredibility. For this reason and because the activities of theRespondents have ceased for a lengthy period of time, I will not makeany further Orders in this matter.
Richard Warman and Judge Stanley Kersham
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 offunds. Read their entire post to find out how you can help, and keepup 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.
*We find it to be very interesting that Mr. Warman spoke last year at Judge Kersham’s Congregation Beth Shalom.
Monday, March 3, 2008 – 7:30 p.m.
Human rights lawyer Richard Warman speaks on the Fight against Anti-Semitism and Racism
Soloway JCC, 21 Nadolny Sachs Private. Admission is Free.