Xanthippa's Chamberpot

What is the cost of freedom?

Many have bought it for us, their descendants, with their lives.

Still, in our everyday life, most of us do not have to ask ourselves just how much of our income we would be willing to spend to protect our freedom of speech – in the public square as well as on the internet.

But, not everyone has that luxury.

Consider the case of Costance and Mark Fournier who run the Free Dominion forum.  They have become targets of a serial suer, Richard Warman, and his minions.

From setting a legal precedent for protecting online privacy to proving that linking to online content does not constitute copyright infringement, they have done it.  And more.

They have had to decide if they should comply with what they considered to be abuse of our (or, their subscribers) civil liberties or if they are willing to pay the money to defend themselves in a lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit…

If you hang out on the internet and comment on things or click on links, you are directly benefiting from the battles the Fourniers have fought and paid for on behalf of all of us!

(And not just in Canada – because of the related nature of our legal systems, Canadian legal precedents are quoted and considered in US rulings and vice versa….after all, we are all children of the Magna Carta!!!)

Yes, the Fourniers are just celebrating a victory in a lawsuit where they had to represent themselves.

Yet, they are still facing more lawsuits against them!

They have launched a fundraising campaign to replenish their war chest.

All of us who love the freedom we enjoy on the internet, we need to ask ourselves:  as smart as Connie Fournier is, do we really want a layman or a professional lawyer to argue cases that will decide what we may and may not do on the internet?

Give generously, please!