p2pnet.net news:- In another Canadian on-line defamation case, Frank D’Angelo, described by the CBC as the “irrepressible owner of Ontario-based Steelback Breweries” who’s also the would-be owner of the the National Hockey League’s Pittsburgh Penguins franchise, is demanding $C2 million from blogger Neate Sager.

D’Angelo says Sager described him as a “huckster” and a “two-bit shyster,” among other things, but Sager, a copy editor at the Ottawa Sun, hopes to resolve the matter out of court, says the Ottawa Citizen.

“I am shocked this happened,” it has Sager, owner of Out of Left Field, saying. “I’m still 100 per cent confident that reasonable people can find a reasonable solution to this and I just hope Mr. D’Angelo can sort of see that it’s really kind of silly that it has come to this point.”

The news, “seems born out of pure petty vendetta against a blogger that has simply peppered a public figure with some pointed barbs,” says SportsFanMagazine.com, going on, “Yes, getting into his business practices is a little close to the line, but can this guy prove that a sports blogger damaged his reputation to the tune of $2 million? And if he does, what does that mean for every Web-based writer that decides to go on the offensive against everyone from politicians to Michael Vick?”

Said Sager on his blog yesterday:

FYI for everyone on this beautiful Monday: I have been served with court papers stating a certain brewery president and CEO whom you might have seen on Canadian television is suing me for libel - to the tune of $2 million Cdn.

Since it’s now on the public record, I have to say my position is any libel issues pertaining to Out of Left Field and Frank D’Angelo were adequately addressed several weeks ago. It’s regrettable it’s come to this point, but the choice is to fight for what’s right, namely the right to free speech as it relates to the written word on the web. I’m confident that there’s a way reasonable people can work this out, and I am a reasonable person.

If anyone is interested in offering legal advice, help or good old-fashioned moral support, you know where to find me.

D’Angelo says in the claim that he issued a notice letter to Sager back in February expressing his concern, but Sager “promptly posted” the letter on his website and mocked its contents, according to Canadian Press, which adds:

“Sager ‘refused to remove the offending references’ from his site and ‘revelled in the prospect of being pursued for damages for libel” for the ‘notoriety’ and ‘attention’ it brought him, the claim says. D’Angelo did not return phone calls Monday.”

p2pnet is also a victim in two online freedom of speech lawsuits, both launched in British Columbia, Canada.

One was lodged by Australia’s Sharman Networks and Nicky Hemming, who runs p2p file sharing application Kazaa. Sharman pulled out, but Hemming is continuing her suit against p2pnet which, “attracted considerable international attention because of the parties involved,” said Canadian law expert Dr Michael Geist in his BBC column when the story broke.

Vancouver businessman Wayne Crookes is is virtually suing the Net in the second case in which Wikimedia, Yahoo and Google, as well as a number of other sites and people, are also named.

Slashdot it!

Also See:
CBC - Steelback owner pursues Penguins, December 19, 2006
Ottawa Citizen - Blogger sued, June 12, 2007
SportsFanMagazine.com - Blogger Hit with $2 Million Libel Suit, June 12, 2007
Canadian Press - Brewer launches $2M lawsuit against blogger, June 11, 2007
BBC - Free speech, libel and the internet age, July 31, 2006
virtually suing the Net - Wayne Crookes on slashdot, May 30, 2007

If your Net access is blocked by government restrictions, try Psiphon from the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto’s Munk Centre for International Studies. Go here for the official download, and here for details. And if you’re Chinese and you’re looking for a way to access independent Internet news sources, try Freegate, the DIT program written to help Chinese citizens circumvent web site blocking outside of China. Download it here.

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Tired of being treated like a criminal? They depend on you, not the other way around. Don’t buy their ‘product’. Do bug your local politicians. Use emails, snail-mail, phone calls, faxes, IM, stop them in the street, blog. And if you’re into organizing, organize petitions, organize demonstrations and then turn up on your local political rep’s doorstep, making sure you’ve contacted your local tv/radio station/newspaper in advance. Don’t just complain. Do something!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm and is filed under Freedom. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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