From declan@well.comWed Aug 7 11:44:55 1996 Date: Thu, 1 Aug 1996 18:43:58 -0500 From: Declan McCullagh To: fight-censorship@vorlon.mit.edu Subject: Embattled "Freedom Site" mirrored by Canadian high-schooler [Information wants to be free. The Simon Wiesenthal Center (and the B.C. attorney general, to some extent) has done nothing but give even more press to white supremacists. Read the attached letter from a student mirroring Lemire's "White Nationalist" web site and the EF-Canada press release. --Declan] Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 21:27:44 -0700 From: Frank Sayre Subject: CSO Press release, Freedom site August 1, 1996 PRESS RELEASE CSO NOW MIRROR'S FREEDOM SITE On August 1, 1996 Canuck Soup ONLINE will mirror a controversial white supremacist Internet web site that is dedicated to hosting controversial groups. I am the webmaster for CSO and a 15 year old British Columbian. I decided to mirror the "Freedom Site" because of B.C.'s misguided attempt to censor the Internet -- a decision sparked by hate groups. I do not agree with the Freedom Site's content, but I do agree that they have a fundamental right to express their political opinions, both on and off the Internet. The B.C. government has no experience or understanding of cyberspace, or a right to censor or suppress legal expression, even if it's on a web site. I'm also requesting that other people who are interested in mirroring the Freedom Site contact freedom@netcom.ca (the webmaster at freedom site) and e-mail me at dnedre@netshop.net to inform me that you are setting up a mirror of the Freedom Site. I do not condone the information provided in the Freedom Site. Webmaster CSO Frank Sayre dnedre@netshop.net box 20125 Smithers, B.C. V0j 3p0 CSO web site: http://www.netshop.net/~dnedre/index.htm --- ELECTRONIC FRONTIER CANADA (EFC) --- PRESS RELEASE (For immediate release --- Thursday, August 1, 1996 --------------------------------------------------- BC teenager takes on BC government in bold free speech battle A 15-year-old boy in Smithers, BC, says he will be "mirroring" the controversial web pages that had prompted the BC Attorney General to call for controls on the flow of "hate" through the Internet. Frank Sayre, who acts as webmaster for the `Canuck Soup' web pages says, "I decided to mirror the `Freedom Site' because of B.C.'s misguided attempt to censor the Internet". "I do not agree with the Freedom Site's content," he continues, "but I do agree that they have a fundamental right to express their political opinions, both on and off the Internet." "The B.C. government has no experience or understanding of cyberspace, ... nor does it have any right to censor or suppress legal expression, even if it's on a web site," says the young cyber-activist. Sayre says he's encouraging other like-minded individuals to help him make his point by setting up their own "mirror sites" -- something he's facilitated by packaging up the information into a downloadable "ZIP file" that his web pages boasts will enable anyone to "Set up your own Freedom-Site in 5 minutes or less!" "It's a controversial approach," admits David Jones, president of Electronic Frontier Canada, who recalls that a similar tactic was successful earlier this year in getting Germany's Deutsche Telekom to back down when it started blocking access to Ernst Zundel's web pages based in southern California. Although Electronic Frontier Canada is a staunch defender of free speech in cyberspace, the organization won't be setting up a mirror site of its own. "I want to be clear that we don't endorse the views expressed in any of these so-called `hate' web pages," says Jeffrey Shallit, EFC vice-president, acknowledging that many Canadians find them offensive and distasteful. "We do agree, however, that attempts to censor web pages are pointless and misguided. First, attempts at censorship just give more media attention to these people, who desperately crave attention, and second, the end result tends to be that the information gets copied around the Internet to these mirror sites -- which can hardly be considered an improvement." Both Shallit and Sayre make reference to the approach advocated by US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas: "The way to combat noxious ideas is with other ideas. The way to combat falsehood is with truth." (from 1958 interview with Mike Wallace) The Nizkor Project, run by B.C.'s own Ken McVay, is a notable example of this approach. -30- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- EFC Contact Information: Electronic Frontier Canada Dr. David Jones, djones@efc.ca phone: (905) 525-9140 x24689, fax: (905) 546-9995 Dr. Jeffrey Shallit, shallit@efc.ca phone: (519) 888-4804, fax: (519) 885-1208 Dr. Richard Rosenberg, rosen@efc.ca phone: (604) 822-4142, fax: (604) 822-5485 Electronic Frontier Canada's, online archives: URL: http://www.efc.ca Background Information: Electronic Frontier fights censorship on the Internet Globe & Mail, July 23, 1996 (Derek Winkler) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Addresses for relevant Web pages: Canuck Soup: http://www.netshop.net/~dnedre/ "Mirror" of Freedom Site: http://www.vrx.net/fight/index.html "Original" Freedom Site: http://www.ftcnet.com/~freedom/ Nizkor Project: http://www.nizkor.org/ EFC's remarks about Deutsche Telekom incident (01feb96) http://www.efc.ca/pages/pr/efc-pr.01feb96.html EFC's recent press release on situation in BC (25jul96) http://www.efc.ca/pages/pr/efc-pr.25jul96.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Contact Information: Frank Sayre Webmaster for "Canuck Soup" and "Mirror of Freedom Site" phone: (604) 847-5744 web: http://www.netshop.net/~dnedre/ web: http://www.vrx.net/fight/index.html email: dnedre@netshop.net Richard Sexton president, VRx Network Services phone: (613) 473-1719 or 473-1731 web: http://www.vrx.net/ email: richard@vrx.net Ken McVay director, Nizkor Project email: kmcvay@nizkor.org web: http://www.nizkor.org/ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: More contact information is available at the bottom of EFC's original press release. Please see the following URL: http://www.efc.ca/pages/pr/efc-pr.25jul96.html