Continuing the saga of the blocked web sites, Telus wrote to Derek Miller, and he has in turn replied, asking four superb and pointed questions:

Can you tell me:

(a) Whether you have contacted the website operator to see if the material you object to can be removed, if you consider it illegal?

(b) If that has not worked, whether you have contacted the hosting provider to ask them to remove any illegal material?

(c) Whether you have contacted police or attempted to obtain a court order for the material you consider illegal to be removed?

(d) What other sites you’re blocking that you haven’t told me or your other customers about?

If the website is acting criminally or inciting criminal behaviour, there are legal avenues available to Telus. If it is not, you may not like it, but you shouldn’t be blocking it….

….Telus has used the argument that you are a common carrier — and therefore not responsible for material people access over the Internet through you — in legal proceedings in the past.

Now you’re contradicting that. Should I believe what Telus has argued in court (and which I believe to be correct), or what you have done when push comes to shove (which I believe to be wrong)?

The rest of Derek’s response is well worth a read — as is Michael Geist’s recent post:

If there is unlawful content on the site and a court orders it taken down, the host ISP must take it down. But that is not what has happened here. No court has ordered the site taken down. Rather, a single ISP, which happens to be the second largest telecommunications company in Canada, has seen fit to play judge and jury by blocking the site. That is just wrong. Telus may be involved in a contentious labour dispute, but that cannot justify this action. Unless there is an untold side to this story, the company should acknowledge its mistake and lift the blockage immediately.

Updated (and concluded?) – Telus has unblocked Voices for Change, and the site has a PDF of the agreement between the two sides. This news comes by way of Derek, who has a GIF version of the document on his blog for the Acrobat-averse.