p2p news / p2pnet: This is just short heads-up to let you know the number of p2pnet story posts may go down over the next little while.

That’s because the Freedom of Expression in Canada campaign, kick-started by the libel suit brought against me by, initially, Sharman Networks and, latterly, by Kazaa ceo Nikki Hemming alone, is gathering momentum.

I plan to cut back in the straight news and focus more on Net and p2p community posts, packing it in at around noon Pacific. Given that I usually start at around 4 am, that should still leave plenty of time for stories.

Under new developments, thanks to the lawsuit, I’ve just met Michael Pilling, who runs OpenPolitics.ca. Based in Toronto, he, too, is being sued for defamation. This time by politician Wayne Crookes.

We’ve decided to pool some of our resources to focus more attention on the appalling state of Canada’s ancient and decrepit defamation laws and tomorrow, p2pnet will run a post from Mike on his troubles. He and I will also be releasing a joint press statement in the very near future.

Meanwhile, Canadian indie label owner and performer Neil Leyton is organizing a Freedom of Speech benefit concert at the famed Rivoli dinner-dance club on Queen Street, Toronto, on the night of August 5. The stars of the concert will be, in alphabetical order, Aceface; Peterborough singer/songwriter Dennis O’Toole; the Kobo Town band, Lindy and Neil.

If you’d like to be in on the August 5, performance on, there’s still time to contact Neil at nleyton @ gmail.com or 416 721 3566. If you’d like to talk to me, use jon @ p2pnet.net.

And before that, there’ll be a round-table discussion hosted at the Centre for Social Innovation, 215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 120, Toronto, from 3 – 5PM.

Topics will include:

• US journalism libel exception/protection extended to bloggers; UK government loses “McLibel” suit at the European Court of Human Rights; and how these international precedent-setting cases might apply to Canadian law
• Current Canadian position on liability of the host for comments
• Should the law of defamation survive in a world in which anyone and everyone can have their own soapbox to respond to criticism and comment?

More on that – including panelists – later. It’ll be an interesting couple of hours and if you’d be willing to put a podcast together so we can post it on the new cyberlibel.ca site we’ll have online by then, please let us know. Also, if you’d like to do a live blog of the discussion, please get in touch.

Cheers! And thanks. And all the best …
Jon

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 18th, 2006 at 3:28 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. 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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