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Gold/Mining/Energy : Yamana Resources INC. T- YRI -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PSkars who wrote (1434)	7/23/1998 5:28:00 PM
From: Greg W. Taylor	Respond to of 2346

Perhaps the corner has been turned.... for all of us. I'll try to keep information coming. Completely off topic and for what it's worth, I've come across a thought-provoking piece of news which points to my favorite sort of issue: one with at least two rational sides. CANADIAN PUBLIC COMPANY GOES AFTER INTERNET CRITICS Having success in unmasking identities. A Canadian public company, Philip Services Corp. (PHV.TO), a waste management firm, has been embroiled in a legal battle to force America Online Inc. (AOL) and other operators of message boards to release the names of people who have criticized it on the internet. It has won a dozen court orders in Canada to force internet providers to reveal the identities of subscribers who it said was posting defamatory and sexually harassing notes,racial slurs and in general, "persecuting" the company's management. The orders were aimed not only at AOL but CompuServe, PsiNet Inc. (PSIX), and others. Yahoo, Inc. (YHOO) removed several messages posted on its bulletin board. Philip spokeswoman Lynda Kuhn said some notes had gone too far and staff members who followed the chat had become angry. "It got so abusive that employees were watching the board and saying: 'Why can't the company do something about this?' Rick Broadhead, co-author of the Canadian Internet Handbook, said the legal action by Philip was ground-breaking in Canada and could force people who chat on the Internet to curb any potentially libelous remarks that might spark more company retaliation. "It will be a wake-up call for a lot of people because they think they are protected and can masquerade under an anonymous address on the Net and say things that are potentially libelous," Broadhead said. Tim Pinos, commercial litigator with the Toronto law firm Cassels Brock & Blackwell, assailed Philip's move. "Either they're really thin-skinned, it's a diversionary tactic or it's both." "People post crap on the Internet," Pinos noted. "You don't take it personally." Broadhead said more companies may follow Philip's example. "It sets a precedent. Are we going to see companies across Canada do the same?" (My answer is 'no.') Greg