BC TEL SORTA MAKES THEIR MIND UP OVER BERNARD KLATTS INTERNET SERVICE


After weeks of waiting and wondering, BC Telecom has finally made a
decision in whether they will discontinue service to Bernard Klatt who
runs Fairview Technology Center [ftcnet.com] in BC for not censoring
some of his various clients from posting material deemed "hateful" by
various groups like the B'nai Brith and the Canadian Anti-Racism
Research Society (Alan Dutton who loves the terrorists at the ARA)

For more background information on the Klatt/Ftcnet.com situation see:

http://www.canadafirst.net/cafe/petition
http://www.canadafirst.net/cafe/oliver
http://www.ftcnet.com/~bwklatt/gmvs0328.htm


----[Press release from BC Telecom on Klatt]------------

April 17, 1998

               BC TELECOM responds to web site complaints

Burnaby, B.C. -- BC TELECOM is asking law-enforcement agencies for
assistance in responding to complaints involving Web sites served by
Fairview Technology Centre Ltd., an Internet service provider in Oliver,
British Columbia. A BC TELECOM subsidiary provides Internet access to
Fairview Technology.

"We met with B'nai Brith and the Canadian Anti-Racism Education &
Research Society two weeks ago to hear their concerns about these Web
sites," said Dorothy Byrne, BC TELECOM's vice-president of law and
regulatory affairs. "We immediately hired senior criminal counsel to
help us review material on these Web sites. Yesterday, this external
counsel advised us in a report that he did access material on these
sites that, in his opinion, violates the hate propaganda provisions of
Canada's Criminal Code."

BC TELECOM has shared these findings with the hate crimes unit of the
R.C.M.P. and officials with the Ministry of the Attorney-General of
British Columbia. The company has also advised Fairview Technology,
B'nai Brith and the Canadian Anti-Racism Education & Research Society.

"We've spent an enormous amount of time and resources understanding the
nature of these Web sites and grappling with our role and
responsibilities as a telecommunications carrier," Byrne added.

"We've considered carefully the concerns of the complainants as well as
other concerns expressed by the Internet community. Also, we've heard
from hundreds of our customers. The vast majority of them believe
strongly in free speech and don’t feel it's appropriate for us to take
direct action against this Internet service provider. This feedback has
been very valuable to us because we don't want to make any decision in
isolation.

"The question of restricting content on the Internet is new to us and
others worldwide. In fact, it's such uncharted territory that there have
not yet been any Canadian or, to our knowledge, U.S. cases that have
applied hate propaganda laws to Internet communications. Quite simply,
there is no easy solution. That's why we're turning to the
law-enforcement agencies for assistance.

"Like most Canadians, we feel our justice system is best suited to take
the lead on issues of this kind that are potentially criminal. We're
hopeful the extensive research we've conducted during the past two weeks
will be useful to the Attorney-General and the R.C.M.P."

BC TELECOM will comply with any court orders or requests from
law-enforcement agencies regarding this matter.

For more information, please contact:

Michelle Gagne
Media relations manager
1-604-432-2949 (office)
1-800-892-4120 (toll-free pager)
michelle_gagne@bctel.com (e-mail address)


From:  http://www.bctel.com/library/892846568.html