Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Canadian Censorship Takes Down 4500 Sites

Posted by timothy on from the now-that's-what-I-call-political-science dept.

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.'"

13 of 227 comments (clear)

  1. Works for me by FPCat · · Score: 5, Informative

    Umm, http://ec-gc.ca/ is working for me.....

    1. Re:Works for me by epiphani · · Score: 4, Informative

      I can somewhat understand where the Canadian government is coming from on this one. The .gc.ca domain is Canadian Government sites. This site is obviously designed to look like an official government site - using a domain that could confuse people.

      I have a problem with censorship, but I also have a problem with intentionally misleading people, then screaming censorship when the folks you're trying to quietly impersonate come after you.

      --
      .
    2. Re:Works for me by compro01 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Both sites appear to be working fine from here in Canada also. This is either some quick backpedaling or bogus.

      --
      upon the advice of my lawyer, i have no sig at this time
    3. Re:Works for me by uncledrax · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Ditto.

      Either they turned them back on really quick, or the article itself is hoax-ad-ware? or something.. i'm sure there's some pre-ordained term for this from the Elders of the Internet

      --
      ----- The internet has given everyone the ability to have their voice heard equally as loud.. even if they shouldn't be
    4. Re:Works for me by JWSmythe · · Score: 4, Informative

          I can't believe anyone is believing a press release done by a group who intentionally does bogus press releases and web sites. No one else sees the problem with this??

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    5. Re:Works for me by Hurricane78 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      While I agree a bit, you apparently don’t know the Yes Men.
      They are known for stunts where they impersonate government agencies, and then go e.g. to conferences and look how far they can go, until the audience starts to complain.

      Turns out they can go further than even the tinfoil hat crowd could imagine.
      They for example presented how one could catch the shit that’s going down the toilet, and making re-burgers out of them, to feed the 3rd world. Or how slavery is too expensive and the current model of letting them work there where you don’t even have to feed them at all, is much better.
      And they got a whole room applauding at them.

      They aim for a seriously presented but blatantly obvious and over the top parody.
      And their point is, that people don’t get the parody and think it’s actually real.

      Seems they won again. And we can all laugh at the Canadian government. The only reason we don’t laugh at you too, is because we can’t assume you did read TFA or saw their work. :) So I give you that.

      --
      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    6. Re:Works for me by ArsenneLupin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yeah, I'd agree, except using government muscle to come after people who mislead others is kind of a crappy thing to do.

      It was a German company that pulled the plug. They were under no obligation whatsoever to honor the request. It's them who screwed up most in this affair.

    7. Re:Works for me by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I know it's unfair to expect an AC to RTFA, but if you had - it stated that the government requested Serverloft "make every effort to prevent any further attempts concerning other environment-related domains (enviro, ec-gc, etc.) originating from [their] servers." Serverloft responded by shutting down a block of 4500 IP addresses. While this request from the government is arguably overreaching - Serverloft's actions in response to the request were basic incompetence. Serverloft is where most of your complaint should be directed. The government's request may be naive, but Serverloft was plain stupid.

    8. Re:Works for me by Intron · · Score: 5, Insightful

      1) Saying something - speech.
      2) Taking money or goods under false pretenses - fraud.

      I don't understand your confusion here. There's already laws against 2). No need to bring 1) into a legal discussion at all.

      --
      Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
  2. Uh, More Hoax? by TrebleJunkie · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

  3. Think hoax till proved otherwise. by stimpleton · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
  4. Re:Hmmm by MadnessASAP · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.
  5. Re:Hmmm by BlueStraggler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.