Kent finally pleads guilty..

It had to happen, Kent's situation was too obvious not to be true despite his protestations and manifold pleadings to the Court to the contrary. He always knew he was a publisher and therefore just as liable for the content of what he published on behalf of others.

Granted that he was in a state of denial, choosing to ignore the Trade Me settlement as irrelevant to his own case because he has 'bushy' on side. He probably also decided to ignore the following from the TV3 website where he and his hate-sites members had been proliferate until recently...

Moderation is necessary on a site like 3news.co.nz because we can be held legally responsible for all content published, we also want to encourage a place where people are free to expound an intelligent opinion without being persecuted or harassed.

Kenty had recently seen the fact that Karam had narrowed the case against him as some kind of victory rather than a tightening of the strait jacket in which Kent belongs. In Kent's celebrations he said because of his apparent vindication (in his own poor mind) that he would be publishing parts of'bushy's' clearly defamatory book. However, his small degree of cunning and common sense took temporarily hold and he only 'published' the book or parts of it where it could not be seen.  Showing that the connection of the defamatory book to the 'dropped' charges was so obvious, even to him, that the removal of the charges was only to expedite Kent's own demise, nothing more.

So an interesting aspect of Kent's reasoning was demonstrated. He accepted that the book contained defamatory comment and dared not publish it on an open site. karam most likely would have noted that. Parker dares not publish the material again, accepting that it is only removed from the proceedings to suit the plaintiff's ends. So Parker originally published it, got sued, then Karam removed that material from the pleadings to narrow the proceedings and see if Parker's defence can survive an application for it to be struck out which Parker has written about himself. Parker celebrated a 'victory,' said the defamatory book, or parts of it, would be published. then crapped himself. Good work from Kent,  showing the shock treatment didn't damage his entire brain.

Well, maybe not because shortly after Kent decides to promote his 'powers' of propaganda and makes the following announcement regarding 'use' of his site:

Each anti-propaganda campaign registered with counterspin gets its own subdomain and is self-managed and self-published.

Of course this is tantamount to Kent's guilty plea, even if ignoring his earlier one of saying he would again publish the 'book' because of his apparent victory - then wisely having second thoughts. The 'announcement' shows that Kent understood all the way along, despite his rejected pleadings in defence, his liability as a publisher. Because his new attempt to profit from propaganda was spelt out to be 'self-published.' Even though this 'self-publishing' defence is long since abandoned by Trade Me, Sella and now TV3 Parker chose to gift a more important meaning to Karam. Parker has effectively admitted the obvious publishing ownership of the material he is being sued over. The material subject to the suit had no such proviso as 'self-published' regardless of whether that was a defence or not. Parker now says it was a defence anyway because it didn't have the proviso 'self-published' - he may take a little while to absorb that.

On another note, TV3, as shown above, is at least the 2nd site after Trade Me to spell out no harassment on  line. Thus placing further into prominence and public consciousness that harassment can take place on the internet. I congratulate them, even accepting there could be elements of self preservation or protection  - it remains a leading statement in the common law as to impose restrictions in speaking in cyber space, just as a good publisher should do. I see it as another step in leading the way back to the simple centuries old understanding of publication of the written word as not somehow lost because of a new frontier extending to a greater market.

In the meantime, I think Kent has firmly shot himself in the foot. He would have been foolish not to have realised his site was being watched, in fact some of the members, and perhaps himself, have boasted of that - even writing 'open' letters to Karam, and 'opinion' pieces. Speaking of opinions Kent has confirmed for all time the opinion held by many that he is simply a liar prepared to hurt others in what ever way he can to get attention or get ahead. He had no feeling for the Bain family, Robin Bain or anyone else, he simply saw an opportunity for himself and didn't care who might have been hurt in the process.