via: JimBobby Sez

While the story centres around Wayne Crookes of BC and his filings against major providers such as Google, Yahoo, MySpace, Wikepidia and others, bloggers are also getting hurt. The average Canadian can’t afford the legal costs (SLAPP’s: Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) and Canadian law has not caught up to the internet. So bloggers take down their blogs. And wait.

Libel Chill is a site put up to follow the Crookes’ cases, to inform bloggers and citizens about Canadian law and to raise money for the defendants.

Michael Geist - Canadian Libel Law Raises Net Free Speech Chill Geist wrote in May that he’d seen postings he was reportedly being sued by Crookes in BC courts for his blogroll.

I have not been served with the suit, but the reports indicate that I am being sued for an allegedly defamatory third party comment on my site that I took down and for writing about, and linking to, P2PNet.net, which in turn linked to another site that allegedly contained a defamatory posting. In other words, I’m reportedly being sued for maintaining a blogroll that links to a site that links to a site that contains some allegedly defamatory third party comments.

I’ve had my blog taken down by a private host, I’ve been threatened, but as of yet I haven’t received a SLAPP. I’ve certainly seen others go through similar things I have, and I agree with JimBobby; depending on what is going on with whom, the best thing ordinary citizens online can do is link up, make noise and not let lawyers get rich until Canadian law catches up to current forms of communication. Canadian libel and defamation law is currently archaic, complicated and beyond the level of understanding of most of us. I can empathize with the people featured in the CBC report.

Update: Michael Geist reports Crookes suit against Yahoo was dismissed with costs by the British Columbia Supreme Court September 4th.