[Dion]

Be careful what you post or say on a message board.

An Ontario Superior Court judge has ordered a pair of website owners to turn over identifying information about eight people being accused of defamation after posting anonymous comments.

"In my view, the defendants are under an obligation to disclose all documents in their power and control," Justice Stanley Kershman said in a ruling delivered Monday to defendants Connie Wilkins-Fournier and Mark Fournier of Kingston, Ont., who run the website Free Dominion.

Kershman also ordered the couple to pay $5,000 in costs to the plaintiff in the case, Ottawa human rights lawyer Richard Warman, described by Kershman as an "anti-hate speech advocate."

Fournier, posting on the Free Dominion website late Monday, said the ruling has a number of implications.

"Most importantly it means that anyone can gain access to a Canadian forum owner's confidential records on its members simply by filing a lawsuit (that could later be dropped) against the forum operator."

Warman had requested, for use in a court action, access to documents that would assist in identifying the anonymous posters and their locations, such as:

• Email addresses and all personal information.
• The IP addresses of their computers.
• Documents concerning the establishment and operation of the website, such as hosting agreements, billing information, and website registrant names

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2...s-posters.html