Wayne Crookes appeals court ‘linking’ decision
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- Would-be Net censor Wayne Crookes has been suing me for quite a while, now, and he — or, rather, his lawyer, Bob Kasting — still can’t spell my name correctly.
Crookes, a Vancouver businessman and ex-Green Party of Canada official, says when you link to another site, you’re virtually publishing its contents.
If a court ever upheld such an outrageous contention, the Net as we know it would be instantly transformed from a vibrant, outspoken community into a collection of milquetoast websites, afraid of their own shadows.
When BC Supreme Court judge Stephen Kelleher ruled against Crookes in his bid to trammell the Net, “This is a very important precedent for internet law in Canada, confirming that website operators are not responsible for defamatory content on other websites to which they have merely linked,” said Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC) director Philippa Lawson.
“It’s also big win for free speech and for the internet as we know it.”
There was little doubt Crookes would appeal, and that’s what he’s done via a standard form which doesn’t set out his reasons for claiming Kelleher got it wrong.
He now has to file his appeal material and a written argument, and I and my lawyer, Dan Burnett, then get 30 days to respond.
Stay tuned.
Jon Newton - p2pnet
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November 26th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
kick him in the groin this time Jon.
November 26th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Will this guy ever stop?
November 26th, 2008 at 5:33 pm
We should all link to a link that shows this guy for what he is
November 26th, 2008 at 7:19 pm
As we say in french…
Sti de couillon
November 26th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
LOL JP!
November 26th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
I dont even get this becose this is all personl opion and fredom of speach becose if i say ” this guy is a fuck tard ” thats my opion and good luck sueing me for it hey ?
November 26th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Wayne Crookes is a fucktard.
November 26th, 2008 at 10:12 pm
So what would happen if a website linked an article or page of a website but then the contents of teh page changes to something else at a later date?
A website being responsible for links that are posted by its users is stupid. There is no rational thinking to his lawsuit. It would be the same thing as posting a link to a filehosting site that has copyrighted material on it. You dont go after the site that posted the link you go to the site where the file is hosted.
And most forums and sites will have a way to contact the admin/moderator of said site and can ask to have the link removed.
So if I click a link on a website and was redirected to a website that had a virus on it an it infected my computer and wrecked havoc could I then sue the site that had that link?
With the economy the way it is do people really need to pursue these types of lawsuits? Do these people really want to waste their money on lawyers. Wayne Crookes needs to take the money is is paying his lawyers and donate it to homeless shelters, foodbanks, Childrens Hospitals, or any other local charity. If he did stuff like that then maybe people might think he is a good person.
He should donate 10 Grand to a charity and then rent a banner space here saying “I have realized that pursueing feeble attempts at sueing people is not the best thing to do during these troubled times therefore I shall be making a donation in the sum of ___ to ___ and wish the best for everyone this season….”
November 28th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
hopefully this guy doesn’t have kids. wouldn’t want him contaminating our gene pool even further =/
November 28th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Mr. Justice Kelleher made a very sensible and very fair determination. Paragraph [34] (see website link to 2008 BCSC 1424 on CanLii) spells out how to link and how NOT to link to controversial material. IMHO, appealing this decision is sheer folly - see the first sentence of paragraph [6] for why I think it is so.
November 28th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
ah Jon, what are you doing man?
i was going to email this but let it be known to all:
if he or the court gets your name wrong then all u need to say is “that’s not me” … case dismissed or massive confusion
if you go to thinkfree.ca u can learn loads more … after you read the pages register in forum and have fun studying to know your rights they don’t tell you about
Enjoy
November 28th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
^^ Thanks, but if I let it go ….
Know what I mean?
Cheers!
November 29th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
^^ … got it
Enjoy