OTRICS, Mark II
In 90s, I had a site called OTRiCS 
(On The Road in CyberSpace).
It was only around for about a year-and-a-half and I eventually shut it down because I couldn’t afford the bandwidth.
The Supreme Court justices haven’t yet ruled on the Wayne Crookes hyperlinks defamation case. Their decision is due any time now and when it finally arrives, I figure I’ll have done my bit for online freedom of speech. And I could sure use a change of pace.
So I’m thinking of pulling the plug on p2pnet and restarting otrics.com.
The other afternoon I mentioned this to Henry Emrich, who wondered why I thought I needed to close p2pnet.
Apart from my health challenges, among the reasons I haven’t properly started back on p2pnet is this: I think it may have reached its peak and it may be time to turn a new page.
Post podcasts, Henry suggested. Or maybe start GooTobe videos.
But given my intense, and oft -stated, dislike of all things Google, that would be really hypocritical, I said.
No worries, Henry, responded. There are plenty of other video sites and you can even host p2pnet on The Internet Archive.
Not incidentally, it’s also known as the Way Back Machine.
I haven’t yet made a final decision, but what do you-all think?
p2pnet is already on the archive — 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003.
And so, for that matter is OTRiCS.
For those who don’t know about it, Crookes wants the threads which bind the World Wide Web, cut.
And he wants Marshall Rothstein, Rosalie Silberman Abella, Louise Charron, Thomas A. Cromwell, Marie Deschamps, William Ian Corneil Binnie, Beverley McLachlin, Louis LeBel, and Morris J. Fish to wield the knife.
They’re the members of the supreme court of Canada, the “final court of appeal, the last judicial resort for all litigants, whether individuals or governments”, it says, declaring, “Its jurisdiction embraces both the civil law of the province of Quebec and the common law of the other provinces and territories.”
Dr Michael Geist, University of Ottawa law professor, wrote this in the Toronto Star:
“Given the widespread use of links in emails, web pages, Facebook updates and Twitter postings, the prospect of being held legally responsible for the content on the page being linked to could have a chilling effect on Internet speech.”
During the hearing on December 7, 2010, Justice Louise Charron told Crookes’ lawyer:
“It seems to me that if we accept the position you’re putting forth [Crookes' lawyer] , then no one should ever hyperlink.
“Maybe I’m a chicken, but I would not dare create a hyperlink because there might be some defamatory material, and I’ll be stuck defending myself in court, and I cannot afford it : We’re sentencing the hyperlink to death, it seems to me.”
The justices’ word is law. Literally and it now remains to see whether or not Canada will be thrown back to the communication dark ages when the dissemination of information and news was almost entirely in the hands of corporate providers.
I was recently told, there’s nothing yet from the Supreme Court of Canada. Hopefully soon. Justices Binnie and Charron have both announced their retirement at the end of August, so I’d expect to see a judgment sometime soon, although technically they can write a judgment up to six months after that.
Cheers, and all the best…
Jon Newton-p2pnet
August 27th, 2011 at 12:18 pm
Jon, do what is best for you!
Podcasts would be cool. It would be neat to have debates that way too.
What one considers defaming is highly subjective, hence why generic laws are required to deal with these on a case-by-case basis. Some are very sensitive, beyond a reasonable view. Hopefully the Supreme Court will take a reasonable view and let Mr Crookes deal with the person he claims is defaming him, and instead thank you for bringing the defaming link to his attention.
August 27th, 2011 at 1:41 pm
Ask Wayne Crooks if he wants to buy p2pnet?
August 27th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
On a serious note I have to ask, do you still enjoy writing on p2pnet? Or has it now come to feel like that type of job that you are tired with and don’t feel like going to anymore?
August 27th, 2011 at 3:30 pm
@ RW My illness and subsequent surgery have rather taken it out of me, and I have to admit to feeling a bit jaded, lately — nothing seems to change: the greedy just get greedier.
But what else is new?
Cheers
August 27th, 2011 at 8:31 pm
Yeah, but that is expected. When I had the heart issues, which was less than yours, it took me a year to recover. Then there was all the memory loss, as you know and what they figured was a stroke and whatever else. That took another year to get over. Then you get the mild depression that comes with all that. Not being able to do what you did a month prior. Feeling weak. Tired. Then mad or angry. Then the effects of the pills. That all heals, but it takes a year to heal, get stronger, and for your body and mind to adjust.
You had it all in one shot, and worse than I had it.
“My illness and subsequent surgery have rather taken it out of me” Yup. I agree. You will feel like that for a good year.
My only advice still remains to slack off p2pnet, as you are thinking. It’s too much, especially after all you had to go through. Next summer, or fall, you will be in a better position to take something on, but I don’t see you going full out on any one project. Be it p2pnet or a new and improved OTRiCS. You just aren’t healed and well enough yet. You will see this later on if you don’t see this now. And many people don’t see when they go through this kind of thing.
That’s about the only input I can offer on that. Feeling jaded comes with it. But, things do change… Might not be the same though…
Just take it slow bud. Don’t push yourself on any one thing. If you feel the time has come to close the place, then do it. You can always restart, or you can tinker with different things and start something else when you are up to it, and I don’t think that time is now.
I just think that closing one to start another isn’t a good way to go at this point in time. You are pushing yourself too much, too soon and I think you will just make it harder on yourself.
But what do I know… I’m just a kooky RW someplace in cyberspace.
August 27th, 2011 at 9:07 pm
Thanks. If you’ve been there, you know it’s like
Cheers!