Geek News and Musings

Canadian Court Orders Website To Disclose Personal Info Of Posters
We’ve noted, thankfully, that US courts have been quite good about protecting the anonymity of online posters, arguing that anonymous speech is a part of free speech. Other countries haven’t been nearly as good about this, with courts often being quick to demand info on anonymous commenters. It appears that at least one court in Canada falls into that camp as well. Michael Geist highlights how a court has ordered a website to turn over info on anonymous posters. Geist notes that Canadian laws and court rulings normally do support a strong anonymity right as part of privacy rights — but suggests that the court in this case simply wanted to side with the guy suing, perhaps based more on emotional reasons (the anonymous commenters are accused of hate speech) rather than on any true legal basis. As Geist notes, anonymity is not an absolute right, but the bar should be pretty high before a court orders any information to be revealed about anonymous commenters. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

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Canadian Court Orders Website To Disclose Personal Info Of Posters
We’ve noted, thankfully, that US courts have been quite good about protecting the anonymity of online posters, arguing that anonymous speech is a part of free speech. Other countries haven’t been nearly as good about this, with courts often being quick to demand info on anonymous commenters. It appears that at least one court in Canada falls into that camp as well. Michael Geist highlights how a court has ordered a website to turn over info on anonymous posters. Geist notes that Canadian laws and court rulings normally do support a strong anonymity right as part of privacy rights — but suggests that the court in this case simply wanted to side with the guy suing, perhaps based more on emotional reasons (the anonymous commenters are accused of hate speech) rather than on any true legal basis. As Geist notes, anonymity is not an absolute right, but the bar should be pretty high before a court orders any information to be revealed about anonymous commenters. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Canadian Court Orders Website To Disclose Personal Info Of Posters
We’ve noted, thankfully, that US courts have been quite good about protecting the anonymity of online posters, arguing that anonymous speech is a part of free speech. Other countries haven’t been nearly as good about this, with courts often being quick to demand info on anonymous commenters. It appears that at least one court in Canada falls into that camp as well. Michael Geist highlights how a court has ordered a website to turn over info on anonymous posters. Geist notes that Canadian laws and court rulings normally do support a strong anonymity right as part of privacy rights — but suggests that the court in this case simply wanted to side with the guy suing, perhaps based more on emotional reasons (the anonymous commenters are accused of hate speech) rather than on any true legal basis. As Geist notes, anonymity is not an absolute right, but the bar should be pretty high before a court orders any information to be revealed about anonymous commenters. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Canadian Court Orders Website To Disclose Personal Info Of Posters
We’ve noted, thankfully, that US courts have been quite good about protecting the anonymity of online posters, arguing that anonymous speech is a part of free speech. Other countries haven’t been nearly as good about this, with courts often being quick to demand info on anonymous commenters. It appears that at least one court in Canada falls into that camp as well. Michael Geist highlights how a court has ordered a website to turn over info on anonymous posters. Geist notes that Canadian laws and court rulings normally do support a strong anonymity right as part of privacy rights — but suggests that the court in this case simply wanted to side with the guy suing, perhaps based more on emotional reasons (the anonymous commenters are accused of hate speech) rather than on any true legal basis. As Geist notes, anonymity is not an absolute right, but the bar should be pretty high before a court orders any information to be revealed about anonymous commenters. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

Permalink | Comments | Email This Story

Zimride: A Carpooling Startup That Actually Makes Money

Zimride - a startup with a tagline that reads “A Carpool Community” - sounds exactly like the sort of benevolent Web 2.0 service that will never make a cent. As it turns out, since launching in 2007 and winning fbFund last summer, the company has managed to carve out a nice niche for itself that saves its users money, helps the environment, and actually manages to generate revenue. And, unlike some of its carpooling competitors, it has also managed to avoid getting sued by Canada.

Zimride offers an application on Facebook Platform, inviting users on the same network to meet eachother and share a car trip. Users can also visit the service on its website at Zimride.com and find trusted users through Facebook Connect. After entering their current location and their destination, Zimride will generate a list of potential matches arranged by how far out of the way each one wants to travel. Users can also post a destination they’d like to travel to some time down the line, and receive alerts through Email when a match pops up.

The service is offered for free for up to 50 members per school or company network, but once it crosses that threshold Zimride seeks out the network owner and asks them to pay a subscription fee if it wants to continue allowing its students or employees to use the service. While this sounds a bit risky (Zimride stands a chance at pissing off students if their school decides not to join), COO John Zimmer says that institutions have generally been very receptive to the idea.

The company works with transporation departments and student governments at universities and large companies, and charges universities $9500 a year for the service (they can pay month-to-month). So far, the company has managed to sign up 20 instutitions, including Stanford which has seen over 14,00 new users share 300 rides in three weeks. And aside from earning money as a carpooling company (which is impressive in itself), Zimride is also notable for being a Facebook application that generates revenue through something other than advertising.

Crunch Network: CrunchBoard because it’s time for you to find a new Job2.0

Trailer Park Boys: Big Plans, Little Brains
Richard Metzger is Boing Boing’s current guest blogger.

Okay, I’ll admit that I came to the immense pleasures of Canada’s greatest export, “Trailer Park Boys” a little late in the party. By the time I downloaded a 17GB torrent file of “the complete Trailer Park Boys” it was indeed just that, complete, with a bow on top. Two feature films and seven TV series, a total of 56 episodes of some of the funniest television I have ever seen. My wife and I positively gorged ourselves on these shows. We’d often watch six a night, one after the other like it was comedy crack. Finally after three weeks or so, the well ran dry. No more “Trailer Park Boys”!! We were majorly bummed out. We went through withdrawal symptoms. We were sad. It was bad, real, real bad.

But then –hooray– they did a new Christmas special!! Hearing THAT was the best present I could have gotten, believe me! And the Christmas show ended with the set-up to a new feature film that will appear in 2009, “Countdown To Liquor Day.” In my household, this was off-the-scale good news.

Here is a selection of short –but exemplary– clips from “Trailer Park Boys.” If like me, you somehow tragically managed to live your life without being acquainted with the distinctly UN-subtle comedic charms of Canada’s favorite bad boys, Julian, Ricky, Bubbles (and let’s not forget Mister Lahey, the greatest screen lush since WC Fields) and you find that these clips tickle your funny bone, rejoice, you have hours and hours of the most side-splitting humor still to discover. And if you are already a TPB fan –and you know who you are– post in the forums and encourage other Boing Boing readers to check out this masterpiece of mirth and mayhem. Who knows, maybe even Coop will get around to watching the DVD I gave him?

Ricky and Bubbles fight

“The Water Bong is So Smooth!”

“Reveen!!” (this is the real Reveen)

White rapper “J-Roc” “You know what I mean?”

“Shithawks!”

Ricky gets caught stealing cable