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Canadian Censorship Takes Down 4500 Sites
uncadonna writes "According to activist group The Yes Men, the government of Canada has shut down two parody websites criticizing Canada's poor environmental policy. The article goes on to claim that 'In response to Environment Canada's request, Serverloft immediately turned off a whole block of IP addresses, knocking out more than 4500 websites that had nothing to do with the parody sites or the activists who created them. Serverloft was shown no warrant, and never called the web hosting company about the shutdown.'"
Umm, http://ec-gc.ca/ is working for me.....
Do you mean in Soviet Canada?
Uh, could the press release (from the Hoaxsters, no less) just be more of a Hoax?
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
This happens all the time in the U.S. The government even shut down a Spanish travel agency that arranged tours to Cuba -- they were foolish enough to register their domain name here. http://thespamdiaries.blogspot.com/2008/03/dont-register-or-host-your-domain-in-us.html
The government never should have issued the letter in the first place.
Wussy provider or not, issuing a bogus takedown notice is a dick move by itself.
From Wikipedia re The Yes Men: "...they create and maintain fake websites similar to ones they want to spoof, and then they accept invitations received on their websites to appear at conferences, symposia, and TV shows".
I would be looking at this with tongue firmly in cheek.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_yes_men
In post Patriot Act America, the library books scan you.
Under the current conservative party government, we've been on a slow, quiet, insidious slide toward fascism. Suppression of information is a frequent and favourite tactic of this government - which is ironic considering they campaigned on "openness and accountability" during the '06 election.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
I'd like a little more confirmation before I believe the Canadian Government issued a take down notice. At best, its an employee of the Government. I didn't see it mentioned anywhere that an elected official had any part in this.
Also, the ISP is in Germany. If an employee from some department in some other company sent me a take down notice, I doubt I'd jump. If this is being reported accurately (and I have some doubts), I'd have more questions for the ISP than I would for the Canadian Government. For example, why did taking down 2 sites interrupt service to 4500 other sites?
That being said, ec-gc.ca is close enough to ec.gc.ca to cause confusion to a casual surfer. I don't think they should be allowed to use it, but in that case, the trademark/copyright holder should go through CIRA.
Why don't you blame the people who are REALLY responsible? The voters.
As long as people vote for the guy who tells them they can keep their 2 suvs and that he will lower their taxes (never actually happened anywhere) you will get these kind of guys.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I don't think that word means what you think it means.
I am not Canadian but I believe the name of the party is The Conservative Party. The word "conservative" lost its meaning a long time ago, particularly in the USA. How else do you explain the politicians who self-identify as "conservative" who are so eager to expand the size and power of government?
It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
That isn't what I'm disputing.
Subject: Canadian censorship takes down 4500 sites
Actually, no, it wasn't Canadian censorship. Its a misleading and hyped up title that does little in way of giving credibility to the topic.
As a Canadian I can confirm that they are in fact called "The Conservative Party of Canada" or more colloquially "The assholes who somehow managed to win an election and try to claim divine mandate with less then 25% of voting Canadian behind them."
I may agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to face the consequences of saying it.
since the site seems to be fine from anywhere and a whole ip-segment was screwed, maybe these yes-men screwed up one of their own routers, suspected some conspiracy and then made up this story?
The Yes Men's entire raisin d'etre is publicity. It would make sense for them to specifically choose ISPs that are willing to roll over easily.
It would make even more sense for them to just release a hoax announcement claiming that the ISP shut down their parody websites, even though the websites are actually still online.
"You cannot simultaneously prevent and prepare for war." -- Albert Einstein
How else do you explain the politicians who self-identify as "conservative" who are so eager to expand the size and power of government?
That's an easy one. The core philosophy in conservatism is maintaining the existing power structures in society. The size of government is immaterial, and will be increased when necessary and decreased when unnecessary to the achievement of this aim. The existing power structure in the USA is based around the military industrial complex, which dictates big, big, big government (but which spends very little on actual social programs). The power structure in Canada is based around the resource economy, which dictates government small enough that the energy, mining, and forestry companies can override popular opposition. That pretty much explains everything you need to know about the differences between American and Canadian conservatives.
Succinct, cogent and accurate. Are you sure you're on the right site?
This is the voice of World Control. I bring you Peace.
I'm not sure Canada has a Bill of Rights. Here in the U.S., it's worth as much as you want it to be.
Remember, the three boxes.
deleting the extra space after periods so i can stay relevant, yeah.
Yes... except that we are quickly running out of free-speech friendly countries (Canada was one of the most free). Soon we'll have to seriously think about putting pirate senders in orbit, just like the old off-shore pirate radio stations of the last century.
cpghost at Cordula's Web.
Do you mean in Soviet Canada?
Nah, it fascist Harper's government. You guys had to put up with Bush for 10 years, while we get this Harper guy. The sad thing is the alternatives aren't much better.
Jumpstart the tartan drive.
Indeed, why did Serverloft, a German company (according to TFA) react at all?
They should just have shown a huge phat finger to the Canucks, and say "you can't get us accross the huuuuge ocean". After all, it's not as if Canada was in a position of unleashing an Operation Desert Storm over Germany. One hosting company to avoid!
And such behavior would be entirely appropriate: after all that's exactly how Canada behaves when German citizens that have been wrongfully imprisoned in Canada want to seek compensation.
Yes we do:
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
---
ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
I am advocating that next election we simply remove the party leaders. They have shown over and over again that that are incapable of leading, and don't even seem to be able to work and play well with others.
As you so rightly pointed out there are no good choices. I for one would vote for the first one that can show me they realize that if you have $10 you can't spend $20. This simple concept seems to be beyond most/all politicians.
If I were God, wouldn't I protect my churches from acts of me?
That's why we need electoral reform and proportional representation. When the cast of characters you list above are forced to work with 2-3 other parties as well as a handful of independent MPs in order to get measures passed through parliament, they will suddenly discover that autocratic, partisan bullshit will harm their ability to get things done and to remain in power.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
My first thought on reading the summary was that Serverloft was a bunch of tools. As I read more and realized the press release was probably a hoax, it made me think. I know the US and Canada have different laws, and IANAL, but if this were the US, I would tend to think Serverloft would have a decent case of libel against them. They can claim "parody" all they want, but if I had merely skimmed the surface, and not read deeper, Severloft woulda been stuck with a negative connotation for me all because these a holes want to screw around. How many of Serverloft's customers read that press release and immediately went and checked if their sites were up? How many are currently looking for a new provider right now? I am all for free speech. If I say "Company A sucks" then fine. Too bad for them. (In the US, of course, I'm sure some company's attorney would want to sue you over voicing that opinion.) But to say they killed 4500 customers in a knee jerk reaction when they didn't? That is not the same thing at all. That can have actual damages. And if I were Serverloft, I'd be consulting someone about it.
WWJD?
JWRTFM!
Rocket Propelled Grenades aren't too effective vs people... make alot of mess
Now a good sized boxset of DnD or WoW collectors edition carefully aimed will take the shoplifter out without too much collateral damage so assume you mean the later use of RPG ;)
--- Users are like bacteria -> Each one causing a thousand tiny crises until the host finally gives up and dies.
The sad thing is the alternatives aren't much better.
Then I would suggest voting for better alternatives.
For justice, we must go to Don Corleone
I'm pretty sure Harper has done more to dismantle transparency in the last 3 years than Chretien/Martin did during their tenure.
Just a sampling of things I can recall off the top of my head since 2006: This, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this.
And I'll repeat again what I said above: all this (and more that I suspect I've mercifully forgotten over the last 3 years) has taken place under the watch of an autocrat who explicitly ran on the promise of transparency and accountability in the 2006 election.
... and people wonder why the general public thinks politicians are a bunch of assholes ...
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
[This comment has been removed due to legal action from the Government of Canada]
This comment will be, so I don't even bother to post it.
(+1, Disagree)
I think you are missing that this is not a letter that was sent from "the government" of Canada. This was someone who is an advisor in the Intellectual Property Branch of Environment Canada. http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/5100
For all I can tell from the government directory, this could be a private sector consultant. His entry doesn't look much different than my own when I'm on contract to the government. Try looking up my name in January in http://sage-geds.tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca/ , as I am returning to a contract at Agriculture Canada doing Linux Sysadmin/GIS work.
An email from me, regardless of what email address I use, should never be confused as an official statement from the Government of Canada.
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