MI5 Persecution: Toronto Freenet supports free speech (577)

Despite an orchestrated campaign of attempted censorship by UK-resident newsgroup readers, TFN did not bow to demands for a suppression of freedom of speech. TFN general policy on the matter is as follows;

Draft Policy on Account Deactivations due to News Group Postings

News group postings occasionally take the form of a message which goes against the "topic" of the conference. For example, a derogatory message about Canadians in the soc.culture.canada.

Members of such news groups then may send a message to the system administrators asking that a user's account be terminated because of such posting.

The Toronto Free-Net Board of Directors has taken the position that the only postings that will get a person's account terminated is material that is illegal under Canadian law. Otherwise, the Toronto Free-Net will not take any action.

Freenet Executive Director Mike Anderson had this to say regarding the continued attempts of a minority of usenet participants to have my account on his system deactivated;

The TFN's policy is not to take action against members unless they contravene the Criminal Code of Canada, or engage in practices such as forgery, attacks against other computer systems or mailbombing.

Mr. Corley, while possibly being very annoying, has not contravened the TFN's policies. The TFN believes strongly in freedom of expression, while recognizing that the price for such freedom may be a high signal-to-noise ratio in Usenet.

If Mr. Corley breaks the law, we will take action -- until then, he has the same rights as any TFN member to post to Usenet newsgroups. Actions such as mailbombing the TFN in protest will be met by strong complaints to the originating site's postmaster. The best defense against unwanted postings may be simply be to ignore them and deny the poster an audience.

TFN Executive Director Toronto, Ont CANADA

Personally, I find it gratifying that my contributions to usenet discussion are recognized as being conducive to a high signal-to-noise ratio by their quality and thoughtfulness.

577

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