NEWS & FEATURES

Illegal info on Internet

Homolka details leak out

BY REBECCA MOORE

BANNED INFORMATION ON THE Karla Homolka trial is available here on campus--not through newspapers in the library, but on the Internet computer system. The Internet system is used extensively by news groups, sports groups, Star Trek buffs and the like. You name it and it will probably be on the internet.

If you are vaguely computer literate you probably have the skills to use this system, which is full of intriguing information- including the details of Karla Homolka’s infamous manslaughter trial. This information had a publication ban put on it in Canada, in order to avoid resultant publicity prejudicing potential jurors in the forthcoming murder trial of Homolka’s estranged husband, Paul Teale- whose alleged crimes include the brutal murders of Kristen

French and Leslie Mahaffy. An Internet news group who call themselves the Homolka fan clubare exchanging information about the trial. Computer Services deleted that file in December after hearing about it from other universities, but the system still

information in a Canadian news group that had been posted by the Washington Post. In other words, Canadian news groups can choose any information they want, from anywhere they want and post it on the internet system. It would not be possible

“We can’t reasonably expect to take all the information out without depriving students of news groups and other useful information.”

gets around the publication ban.

U.P.E.I. receives over two thousand news groups from the University of New Brunswick. These news groups can pick up information from news groups in the U.S. and pass it on to Internet users here in Canada. One student found Homolka

for Computer Services to go through every news group to find banned information, so even though the ‘Homolka fan club’ news group is deleted, the information is still readily available.

Bruce Davison, a student representative .

on the Computer Advisory Committee,

believes that trying to delete all the banned information would be ridiculous. “We can’t reasonably expect to take all the information

* out without depriving students of news

groups and other useful information.” There are other ways for people to find information about the trial through Internet. Anyone who knows how to use the system can also retrieve information directly from the United States. Instead of depending on the Canadian news groups for information, computer users can find it themselves. Whether or not there should be a publication ban seems irrelevant now. With current technology widely available, little can be kept truly secret. The fact that the information is available to anyone who wants it makes a mockery of our legal system and the ruling. Perhaps an innocent man is being judged before his trial by his jurors, or perhaps a murderer may get off because too many people had access to the information which could provide grounds for a mistrial. Whatever the outcome of the Teale case, the legal system will learn a valuable lesson.

Sexual harassment and the University Press

CUP explores sexual harassment

BY C.A. SCHNEIDER WIP UNTIL THE HOLIDAYS | NEVER realized what a huge problem sexual harassment is on the staffs of many university papers. | spent one week with student journalists from all over Canada, and the biggest common problem, not only at this conference but at the papers themselves, was and is sexual harassment.

-harassment complaints.

but it does give the basics of sexual harassment.

At conferences such as the Cup National, _

a committee is set up to deal with sexual The sexual harassment grievance committee is set up on the first day of the conference and is responsible for hearing and acting on all complaints for the remainder of the

...the biggest common problem, not only at this conference but at the papers themselves, was and is sexual

; harassment.

What is sexual harassment? According to the CUP (Canadian University Press) constitution, sexual harassment is defined as any one of the following acts: verbal sexist harassment or abuse; subtle pressure for sexual activity; sexist remarks about a person's clothing, body or sexual activity; unwanted. touching, petting or pinching; leering ata person's body; constant brushing against a person's body; demanding sexual favours accompanied by implied or overt threats or rewards; harassment because of sexual orientation; and physical or sexual assault. This list is not an exhaustive one,

conference. The committee is made up of two women and a man who are chosen by their respective caucuses. Theactual process of screening the members of the committee was changedat this conference: the women’s

caucus as a whole used to screen the male

representative; however, this was deemed a cruel and unusual punishment for a man who had volunteered to take this position and face thirty women alone. So, this year a committee of four women was set up to screen the men. | servedon this committee, and truly believe this is the way to go with this.

The Sexual Harassment Grievance Committee is not only set up at conferences, though. Many papers have their own committees to fight harassment on their staff. This was a real shock for me. | knew that other papers had their problems with harassment, but never did | expect that it was serious enough to have a standing committee. The women’s caucus held a closed caucus to discuss harassment at the

papers, and incidents discussed at this caucus were enough to make me seriously think about how lucky we are here at the X- Press. We leada sheltered life far from the reach of the real world where all women on a paper’s staff have closed caucuses to discuss the problems on staff, and where all women on staff have to watch who they talk to in the office and who they become close to for fear of harassment, stalking or assault.

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The Agency of the Nineties

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x.press january eleventh 1994 page 3