CRTC denies request to ask ISPs to block hate sites
Last Updated: Friday, August 25, 2006 | 2:15 PM ET
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Canada's broadcast regulator will not ask internet providers to voluntarily block two U.S.-based websites accused of promoting hate.
An Ottawa lawyer has asked the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to block access in Canada to the two websites.
The CRTC said Friday it would be inappropriate to grant an interim order allowing ISPs to block the sites without first allowing comment from the companies and the public.
Human rights lawyer Richard Warman says the sites are operated by an American Nazi sympathizer and contain incitements to commit violence against Warman.
Some of the posts on the websites call for the violent overthrow of the Canadian government and the "extermination" of Canadian Jews.
In his application to the CRTC, Warman said Bill White of Roanoke, Va., urged readers of his websites to "take violent action" against Warman, and even went so far as to post his home address.
Warman says the sites have caused him to fear for his life.
Can order blocking access
The CRTC can order internet service providers to temporarily block access of Canadian internet users to specific websites, but must first ask them to do so voluntarily.
The ISPs themselves are not allowed to block access to any site — even ones that promote hatred — without the CRTC's permission.
Internet law expert Michael Geist says the case raises interesting questions and possible precedents.
"If the CRTC does issue such an order, will it face a regular stream of similar requests? Can the sites be blocked without also blocking dozens or hundreds of additional sites hosted at the same IP address?" wrote Geist on his blog.
In Canada, posting hate material and incitements to violence on a website is a crime.
In June, an Ontario man was brought before the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal for allegedly posting hate propaganda online.
In 1997, Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel was found responsible by the tribunal of using his website to distribute hate literature. He was deported from Canada to his native Germany, where he is on trial for inciting racial hatred.
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