Date: Fri, 20 May 1994 22:00:16 -0400 (EDT)
From: [anonymous EFF member]

Note: due to the current political climate in Ontario, please do not
forward this story over the net with my name on it. Reading the story
will explain why. There is increasing evidence that with in the next
two years we may see in Canada a similar situation as has been taking
place in Italy over the last few weeks with the shutting down of
'amature' BBS sites.

As reported in Toronto's EYE Newspaper [eye@io.org] (similar to New
Yorks Village Voice) dated May 19. 1994

 The London Ontario detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police have
begun a campaign of harassment against local University Internet users
who are attempting to use the 'net to gain information on the Karla
Homolka trial. A University of Western Ontario (London) student had
his Internet account frozen by the university computer staff when
requested by the Police. The reason for this lay in the student's name
being left on the text of a FAQ of the details of the trial. Another
student in Toronto had Faxed this material (which had been Emailed to
him) to the Toronto media, and the offices of the Premier of Ontario
and the Attorney-General as an act of provocation against the Ban (his
regular anonymous forwarding site was not working).  The problem was
that he had forgotten to remove the other persons name and account
number from the original E-mail that was sent out.

    The police action against the student's account was done without a
warrant, and also involved the questioning of the student at the local
police station. Likewise the students home computer was searched
without a warrant by using the threat of criminal charges. The
Student's computer account was re-instated, but he was required to
turn over all incoming Email to the police under the threat of
criminal charges if he did not cooperate. A list of about 50 people
who had received Homolka FAQ's were passed on to the police.  The
important part of this entire situation is that no one, including the
Ontario Attorney-General office is certain that the ban applies to the
Internet. The ban states that details of the trial cannot be published
in the print media but there is no ban on possession of
information. There is no mention of the Internet, nor the use of
computer systems in the ban.  Further, there is no official
investigation of the Internet on the part of the Ontario Provincial
Police, except for this one detachment.

   One of the questions raised is the ethics of the University of
Western Ontario's computer department. Their cooperation with the
police was based on a fear of having their computer equipment
confiscated (similar to the case of the University of Cambridge in
England). If the situation had taken place with in the library system
of the university, it would not have been tolerated by the library
staff due to the long held tradition in that profession of the defense
of freedom of speech. If the Internet is to remain open this set of
values will have to become part of the professional commitment of the
MIS staff of universities as well.