The Canadian Human Rights tribunal has ruled against an ISP finding it liable for hate messages hosted on their site in what is believed to be a precedent setting case.
Specific findings included a determination that material sent over the Internet is a ‘communication’ within the meaning of the Canadian Human Rights Act and finding an ISP, Affordable Space.com, responsible for the illegal material that it knowingly hosted.
The CHRC levied fines of $13,000 and damages of $5,000 in connection with the case.
Warren Kinsella, a Toronto based lawyer and author of Web of Hate, says that the case shows that the CHRC has been willing to step up and apply regulation to parts of the internet despite the CRTC’s unwillingness to do so.
On one hand, it is good to see the CHRC dealing with such matters. However, their jurisdiction likely does not apply to websites hosted in Canada. In our humble view, the CRTC has to take on the role of keeping material found to be illegal out of Canada.
That viewpoint will be explored at The Canadian Telecom Summit in its special panel looking at “Illegal Content on the Internet.”