Here is a professor of international law, explaining the terms that regularly crop up with respect to Omar Khadr.
This is important, because legal terms are narrow in their scope and if we don’t understand them correctly, we cannot have a meaningful discussion on any topic these terms refer to.
Free Dominion, the oldest conservative internet discussion forum in Canada, has made the pages of WorldNetDaily!
‘Mark Fournier, in a statement on the website, explained that the appeals court has instructed parties to return to Superior Court with expert witnesses who can better inform the court of the many new issues related to the situation.
“Traditional defamation law is badly in need of an update in its application to the Internet,” Mark Fournier wrote.
“Unfortunately, and for reasons we do not understand, the high court ordered us to pay John Baglow $14,000 in costs. It is difficult because the appeals court wants us to help them examine these important issues, yet they placed a financial burden onus that could potentially knock us out of the game. If this happens it will be bad for Canadian Internet users.
“We will remain in an era where Internet arguments will be settled by SLAPP suits and lawfare, and, to us, that is completely unacceptable.”’
The article also lists the link where one can donate to help the Fourniers fund the legal battle to keep our internet speech free and a link to the long list of legal battles the Fourners have already withstood!
UPDATED on 9th of January, 2015
Raif Badawi had been sentenced to flogging with 1 000 lashes and 5 years in jail. For more info, click here.
The website is in Arabic, but since it is easy to get translated (not well, but understandably), please, feel free to visit the site ‘Free Saudi Liberals’.
According to Human Rights Watch, that website’s creator Ra’if Badawi has been arrested and charged under the cyber-crimes law for having created and operated this website. Apparently, providing a forum where people can discuss matters of concern ‘infringes on religious values’.
He is also criminally charged with ‘not obeying his father’…
From Reuters:
‘Court documents show the evidence against Badawi includes a post on the website that asks, “is God unjust?”, sarcastic remarks about the Saudi religious police and a senior scholar, and a post that asks, “why is Saudi’s Grand Mufti blind?”‘
Online political forums are important to society.
And, it is not only in Saudi Arabia that online forums are targeted by censors. Right here, in Canada, the methods may be civil rather than criminal law, but, the impulse to censor is the same. At least here, we can help people who are unfairly targeted raise the funds for their defense.
This is a perfect illustration of how the unbalanced copyright laws are abusive.
The political ad of Obama singing the song ‘Let’s Stay Together’ while showing images of him with rich lobbyists is as textbook ‘fair use’ as there is. Yet, the song rightsholder, BMG, had it yanked off the interwebitudes:
‘A YouTube video produced by the Romney for President campaign got hit by a takedown request on Monday, highlighting the challenges that the Digital Millenium Copyright Act can pose for free speech.
…
Yet the “notice and takedown” process established by the DMCA and apparently utilized by BMG in this case doesn’t give the Romney campaign much recourse. It can file a counter notice stating that it believes its clip to be fair use, but YouTube is required to wait a minimum of 10 days before putting the video back up. In a campaign where the news cycle is measured in hours, 10 days is an eternity.’
Because sometimes, delaying a message is just as good as stopping it…
Another dimension of the problem is that individuals unfairly censored under the current policies are penalized for the other side’s failure – without any accessible or effective recourse or remedy readily available. They are, in a very real sense, guilty until proven innocent – at their own cost and by their own effort.
This is so contrary to our common law tradition I don’t know where to begin!
And it’s only going to get worse – unless we shift our enforcement focus from ‘fair dealing’ to ‘fair ‘use’ (as, hopefully, seems to be happening up here, in Canada).
The Supreme Court of Canada has handed down a ruling that covers copyright issues as they relate to educational institutions. It’s ruling is not exactly supportive of the copyright cartel…
From Dr. Michael Geist’s commentary on the ruling:
‘The Supreme Court of Canada issued its much anticipated rulings in the five copyright cases (ESAC v. SOCAN, Rogers v. SOCAN, SOCAN v. Bell – song previews, Alberta v. Access Copyright, Re:Sound) it heard last December (my coverage of the two days of hearings hereand here). It will obviously take some time to digest these decisions, but the clear takeaway is that the court has delivered an undisputed win for fair dealing that has positive implications for education and innovation, while striking a serious blow to copyright collectives such as Access Copyright. ‘
In my never-humble-opinion, the ‘copyright issue’ in our society suffers from the same difficulty in being heard that the ‘atheist issue’ does: it is impossible for individuals who are simply speaking for themselves (whether they be individual people who are defending their property rights over copyrighted items they have purchased or individuals who simply do not belong to any religious organization) to be heard over the voices of well organized groups with ample funding (whether they be religious organizations or industry representatives).
It is my hope that the ruling, which says it is the consumer’s rights and not the copyright holders that must be given the broadest consideration, will discourage the initiation of frivolous lawsuits which maliciously target people and make the lawsuit process itself a punishment.
Every religious person should oppose ‘blasphemy laws’ with every fiber of their being.
Why?
With ‘blasphemy laws’ in place, it is impossible to have freedom of religion.
Every religion has, as its central tenet, the bold and uncompromising claim that it and it alone is ‘the righteous path’ to wherever or whatever it proclaims people ought, according to its teachings, be on the path to.
Even if we set the anti-theists, atheists and non-theists aside and accept the religionists’ claims, it is impossible for more than one of these religions to actually be true.
Therefore, every single time that someone preaches/teaches one religion, he/she is necessarily committing blasphemy against every single other religion.
Thus, if blasphemy laws are actually enforced, we’ll soon have jails filled with religious teachers/preachers!!!
Plus, there will, of course, be the added complications – for those of us living in constitutional democracies – that enforcing ‘blasphemy laws’ necessitates that The State police the dissemination of religious dogma, which is fundamentally incompatible with the principles underlying our legal systems.
Sure, ‘blasphemy laws’ are seen by many as a measure to protect religious freedoms, but if you really think about it, they are the most certain way to prevent the teaching of any religion at all!
But, don’t take my word for it: we have real-life examples of this mechanism in action from countries where the enforcement of ‘blasphemy laws’ (which really mean anti-blasphemy laws) is sending clerics to jail.
Yes, we all know that Iran is trying Christian preachers for blasphemy – but, well, what do you expect from Iran?
And, yes, we know Christian preachers have been tossed into jail for blasphemy for holding Bible study classes inside their homes in Pakistan – but, well, it’s not like Pakistan is a bastion of good governance, right?
And good luck even finding a Christian or Jewish religious teacher who could potentially commit such blasphemy in Saudi Arabia…
So, let’s not use the most extremist countries as examples. Let’s look at Indonesia, long touted as an example of how multiculturalism can work in a tolerant, moderate Muslim country: a Shia cleric has been sentenced to two years in jail for – you guessed it – promulgating Shia teachings, which was not to the liking of the influential local Sunni clerical council.
From The Jakarta Globe:
‘The judge said that Muluk had propagated Shiite teachings in his village of Nangkernang, where a nearby branch of the country’s top Islamic clerical council dubbed the denomination “deviant” from mainstream Islam.’
Human Rights Watch has further details:
‘“The Indonesian government should immediately drop the case against Tajul Muluk, which highlights the threat Indonesia’s blasphemy law poses to religious freedom,” said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to reverse the growing trend of violence and legal action against religious minorities in the country.”’
. . .
‘The Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Badan Koordinasi Pengawas Aliran Kepercayaan Masyarakat or Bakor Pakem) is a coordinating body under Indonesia’s Attorney General’s Office with branches in every province and regency under local prosecutors’ offices. According to the 2004 Public Prosecution Service Law, Bakor Pakem has the responsibility to provide “oversight in respect of religious beliefs that could endanger society and the state.” Bakor Pakem normally sits under the intelligence division of the public prosecution office, and works closely with the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the police, the military, local governments, and religious establishments.’
Let’s take a stand for religious freedom and ensure that ‘blasphemy laws’ are gotten rid of worldwide!
Remember, the end never justify the means. Rather, the means always define the end…
H/T: BCF
Expression: Don’t censor the Internet.
Access: Promote universal access to fast and affordable networks.
Openness: Keep the Internet an open network where everyone is free to connect, communicate, write, read, watch, speak, listen, learn, create and innovate.
Innovation: Protect the freedom to innovate and create without permission. Don’t block new technologies, and don’t punish innovators for their users’ actions.
Privacy: Protect privacy and defend everyone’s ability to control how their data and devices are used.
Xanthippa's Chamberpot 