The hate-sites: the end is nigh.

After over two years since cyber-attacks, stalking and harassment was commenced on line by Annette Curran (aka golfergold) of Kapiti Coast and Glenda OBrien (aka kalnovitch, laddiefatcat) of Dunedin and others such as Christine Williams (aka msspw, millie) dustproof and nina-s they are all but routed. While none of these people have been yet brought to Court, the files against their on-line activities and law-breaking are complete and formulated into a cognitive package that might yet be used against them or other parties for a variety of issues.

Kent Parker and Vic Purkiss who jumped on the bandwagon, with those mentioned above and others, are now crippled in a legal battle of which they have no prospect of winning. Parker has made a damning admission against himself in sworn papers that's likely to have done as much harm to him as anything else that could have been brought against him to prove his role as a publisher and defamer, and more succinctly as a hate-siter and sicko. All of this is contained in the recent  Judgement which he at first admitted was a defeat, and over time (how predictable) preached of how it was an 'opportunity' to try the Bain case again. Oh well, in kent's case once an idiot always an idiot. Each morning when he and Vic wake they will have the prospect of their own ruin churning in their stomachs, ruin that they sought to set upon others - free men and women alike with the right to live peacefully in this land without the attentions of a rabid mob. If you read this Kent, remember your snickering comments about my family and understand at least now the strength that grew in me when your cast your sick eyes and attention over my wife and children.

Changes have at last occurred in cyber-space here in New Zealand. The biggest site Trade Me now specifies that users must not harass or defame others on their boards. While it remains to be seen if live publishing online can ultimately be contained as lawful, I recognise the effort made to ensure that the risks are actively reduced - a substantial step in the right direction. All things have a starting point and one was obviously my letter to TM almost 2 years ago pointing out that their site was being populated by waves of hate-siters whose tools were lying, defamation and threats. If TM had been less like a slow maneuvering vessel they would have most likely avoided the litigation that was commenced against them about 6 months later and which continues on - probably inevitably to some sort of settlement between them and the plaintiff Joe Karam.

There has been an increased appreciation that online publishing isn't by any stretch of the imagination 'a chat in the pub.' Also, there is a sharp awareness between all online publishers that there protocols are recognised as being no different from the print media and with the same restraints. There is recognition by precedent before the Courts that nzers can be harassed on line and can take that to the Courts for relief without apparent need for massive law changes, but rather simply the Judicial appreciation that the written word, whether on a computer screen on a published newspaper, is not diminished one from the other - but that they, and their impact is one and the same, screen or printed page.

Perhaps also there grows an awareness of the social change that cyberspace first brought which seemed to have no limits or boundaries to the recognition that there were always limits and boundaries, and that people would invariably learn that a hot pool discovered on a trip into the bush in Rotorua didn't need to have a sign, erected by the Council, to warn of the dangers. Because the dangers were clear and present to anyone of experience and common sense. Also the fears that the anxious online users held that they might be restrained by not being able to 'speak their minds' or engage in snooping and prying into the lives of others,  by some measure of insanity or social deviance, they thought they 'owned' because of a superior position they felt to hold over others not 'as good as them,' or deficient in some compared to the 'elite' defamers and stalkers. And for the more socially well-adjusted, the opportunity to see some measure of decorum and restraint arrive on message boards that might be expected by a mature and civilised society looking to progress itself with new social mediums.

I chose the title above for the obvious reasons that Parker, Purkiss, Curran and others hate-site owners have fallen over into redundancy to become an odd fixture in the recent past. A past where individuals that might otherwise have been socially moderate became monsters to an all consuming hate, sated by a false power they felt was their 'destiny' or 'right' to interfere mercilessly into the lives of not only those they considered their enemies but also the families, children and friends of those as well. The first individual, in this now expiring saga, was Annette Curran, quickly to be joined by Glenda OBrien, nina_s and others. I additionally chose the title because these hateful people and their campaigns inadvertently gave something good to nzers. They gave the opportunity for nzers to learn and see that there is a way out from being stalked and harassed in cyberspace and that the Courts can help them. This could now be seen as a blue print in the future for those that might choose cyber-space to bully, threaten or commence hate-campaigns to be stopped quickly and efficiently. I say that being mindful of the nz teenagers being bullied on line that featured on Close Up this week.

More pages yet to write and investigate on this subject, particularly the links that fed and used the hate-sites that now lie expired, but an interim report on substantial progress for the benefit of the majority.