#rehtaeh

Rehtaeh Parsons's father credits Anonymous for reopening investigation

While experts and officials decry recent instances of vigilantism by the hacktivist group Anonymous, one beneficiary of the group’s activism is adamant that justice would never have been served without involvement by the clandestine organization.

Glen Canning said he believes Anonymous’s threats to publicly identify boys allegedly involved in the cyberbullying that predated his daughter Rehtaeh Parsons’s death prompted Halifax police to reopen their investigation and eventually lay charges.

None of this would have happened if Anonymous hadn’t stepped in, said Canning. “I believe that absolutely. I have no question about that at all.”

Her family alleges Parsons was sexually assaulted in November 2011 and bullied for months when a digital photo of the assault was passed around her school. She died after attempting suicide in 2013. An angry post from Parsons’s mother brought the case to the attention of Anonymous, said Canning.

“Why go through the courts? Why go through the system?” he said in a telephone interview from Nova Scotia. “Why be revictimized again when you can write something and get ahold of some people online who can really do a hell of a lot more to bring you a sense of justice than the police and the courts can?”

Anonymous is a shadowy, loosely knit collective known for its online activism targeting governments, corporations and religious groups around the world on prominent social justice issues.

‘The system is broken’

The group made headlines last month after one of its alleged members was shot and killed by police in Dawson Creek, in northern British Columbia.

Rehateh Parsons’s father Glen Canning said he believes his daughter’s case would not have reopened without the help of Anonymous.

Reacting to the shooting, Anonymous threatened to temporarily shut down police websites and release hacked government documents related to the overseas communication capabilities of Canada’s spy agency.

The RCMP national site and the website for Dawson Creek both went down briefly after the threat. Mounties later said it was a maintenance issue.

The group threatened to go public with more “stunning secrets” unless the government named and charged the RCMP officers involved in the shooting of James McIntyre, 48. B.C.’s police watchdog is investigating the shooting.

Bystander video revealed McIntyre was wearing Anonymous’s trademark Guy Fawkes mask. Fawkes was the most well-known member of a plot to blow up the British Parliament in 1605.

“Stuff like this happens because the system is broken,” said Canning. “If we can fix the system … then maybe we wouldn’t need Anonymous.”

Dalhousie University law professor and cyberbullying expert Wayne MacKay said Anonymous has played a role in advancing the cause of justice, such as spurring governments to take action. Though no government would concede publicly it had acted in response to pressure from Anonymous, he added.

Still, MacKay raised a red flag about the group’s unorthodox style of activism.

“Even if they’re filling a hole in our justice system does that justify breaking the law?” he said.

“Often the answer to that would be no. We do have a structured justice system for a reason and we shouldn’t necessarily allow a sort of vigilante response even if we think the main justice system is moving too slowly.”

‘There’s no excuse for vigilantism’

Central to the dilemma is a concept found right in the collective’s name: anonymity.

MacKay described the members as unelected and unaccountable purveyors of justice.

“Because they’re anonymous and hide behind masks they’re not responsible or accountable for what they do,” he said.

Former B.C. Court of Appeal justice and provincial attorney general Wally Oppal was unapologetic in his condemnation of the group’s methods.

“There’s no excuse for vigilantism,” he said in an interview. “It’s a recipe for anarchy.”

He chided the activist group for failing to give investigators enough time to probe the Dawson Creek shooting.

Oppal said the public is justified in feeling frustration with delays in the justice system, but there needs to be a process based on fairness.

Anonymous claimed responsibility for a June attack that shut down several federal sites and wreaked havoc with email — billing it as a protest against the federal security legislation that broadened the mandate for Canada’s spy agency.

There is obviously interest in “trying to identify these hackers, it goes without saying,” said Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney last week.

“All the agencies involved in security … we’d really like to be able to put an end to this.”

Canada News

Rehtaeh Parsons: DND investigating Wikipedia edits; review into police handling of case in fall

Canada's Defence Department is investigating to determine whether an infraction of its Internet usage policies occurred after changes were made to a Wikipedia page about Rehtaeh Parsons. Wikipedia’s revision history shows that as of Jan. 29, more than a dozen changes were made to its page about the girl’s death from a computer with an IP address linked to the Defence Department. Some of the changes are minor updates, but others are contentious revisions that include the altering of one quote attributed to Parsons’ father, Glen Canning. That quote was revised to make it appear as though Canning said his daughter had consensual sex with two boys who were later convicted of child pornography in her case. A Defence spokeswoman issued a statement saying the Canadian Armed Forces chain of command is aware of the matter and determining whether any federal rules have been broken. The statement says the department does not comment on ongoing investigations, but it added that employees, contractors and members of the Canadian Armed Forces are given security briefings regarding acceptable use of networks. No charges have been laid yet in relation to the arrest of a soldier over "inappropriate comments" made using a DND computer; Maj. Yves Desbiens, a department spokesman, said no charges have been laid, so he could not release the soldier’s name.

'The two boys involved in taking and posing for the photograph stated Rehtaeh was throwing up when they had sex with her. That is not called consensual sex. That is called rape,' Canning is quoted as saying. But on Jan. 29, the quote was revised: 'The two boys involved in taking and posing for the photograph stated Rehtaeh was throwing up after they had sex with her. That is called consensual sex.'

The Toronto Star reports

Meanwhile, a former Ontario chief prosecutor says Nova Scotia police and prosecutors have been forthcoming in his review of their handling of the Rehtaeh Parsons case. In an update on his review, Murray Segal said Thursday that he has met with members of the province's Public Prosecution Service, Parsons' family and police, and all have been co-operative. "All of the procedures that we've been asking for we've been receiving and the interviews that we have sought have been provided," Segal told a news conference, adding that he expects to deliver his report by early fall.The provincial government ordered the review in August 2013, but it was delayed until legal proceedings involving two men charged in the Parsons' case concluded. Segal said the bulk of interviews for the review have been completed and that he would return to Ontario on Friday. He said he needs time to go through the information, which includes police policies and procedures on sexual assault investigations, training curriculum for justice personnel who handle the cases and transcripts of the court cases involving the two convicted men. Police charged the men with child pornography offences just four days before Segal was appointed to lead the review. A 20-year-old man pleaded guilty last November to distributing a sexually graphic image of Parsons, who was 15 years old at the time of the offence. Another 20-year-old man pleaded guilty to making child pornography by taking a photo of the accused having sex with Parsons, who was taken off life-support after attempting suicide in 2013. Both men were youths at the time of the offence and were charged under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

We've also been looking at and struck by the fact that the whole issue of cyberbullying and texting has really taken off in the last number of years, especially amongst youth. With those kinds of developments in mind, we're looking at how the authorities deal with these kinds of cases, because it is an evolving kind of behaviour... and we may have some recommendations in that respect.

Canada News

Edits to Rehtaeh Parsons Wikipedia page allegedly came from gov't computer

The Department of National Defence says it is investigating allegations that someone using a government computer altered a Wikipedia page about Rehtaeh Parsons, possibly violating federal internet usage rules. Wikipedia's revision history shows that as of Jan. 29, more than a dozen changes were made to its page about the girl's death. Parsons attempted to take her own life at 17 and was later taken off life-support in 2013. Her parents say she was cyberbullied and was pushed to suicide after a photo of a boy having sex with her was passed around her high school. The changes to the Wikipedia page were allegedly made with a computer with an IP address linked to the Defence Department. Some of the changes are minor updates, but others are contentious revisions that include the altering of one quote attributed to Parsons's father, Glen Canning.

That quote was changed to make it appear as though Canning said his daughter had consensual sex with two boys who were later convicted of child pornography in her case.

New Post has been published on http://blogoffthewall.com/was-the-tragedy-of-rehtaeh-parsons-compounded-by-judicial-indifference-2/

Was The Tragedy Of Rehtaeh Parsons Compounded By Judicial Indifference?

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In what may very well be a last gasp of judicial indifference, the tragedy of what happened to young Rehtaeh Parsons has been settled by the judicial system. The Canadian teenager was only 15 years old when she’d been photographed with no clothing from the waist down, hanging out a window after she’d thrown up. Behind her in the picture was a half-naked then-16-year-old boy giving a thumbs-up to the photographer. According to the story the boys told, Rehtaeh had met up with the boys involved for some drinking that turned into a sexual encounter. Many involved believe that the photograph is documentation of the rape. An initial RCMP investigation determined that there was not enough evidence to pursue the rape charges.

Unfortunately for Rehtaeh, that picture got emailed to two other girls, one in Rehtaeh’s high school. Once it reached her school, the picture spread like wildfire. She endured bullying the likes of which only teenagers can manage.

Rehtaeh left the school, and decided to try to rebuild her life in Halifax. Unfortunately, the emotional trauma was something she couldn’t leave behind. Rehtaeh checked into a hospital at one point, trying desperately to cope with thoughts of suicide.

In early 2013, Rehtaeh gave in to those thoughts. She hanged herself in the family’s bathroom. Somehow, she survived that suicide attempt, but ended up in a coma. Three days later, her family made the choice to remove life support. Rehtaeh died that night.

Thanks to the involvement of the hacktivist group Anonymous, who saw the disturbing parallels to the Steubenville rape trial, the rape allegations were reopened a few months after Rehtaeh’s death. The boy who was in the photograph, as well as the boy who took the picture, were charged with child pornography. In late 2014, the photographer was given a conditional discharge by the courts, made to register in the national DNA database, and ordered to meet with a counselor for a year. The boy in the photo was convicted of child pornography, and late last week was sentenced to a mere 12 months of probation. Judge Gregory Lenehan also ordered a mandatory mental health evaluation, and reinforced a ban on the now-20-year-old from contacting the Parsons family or the photographer.

In a comment that seems contradictory to his sentence in the case, Judge Lenehan is quoted as saying to the man who was in the photo with Rehteah:

He said the photo was a “gross violation of the personal integrity of Ms. Parsons” and that the man had shown “utter contempt for Ms. Parsons,” saying she was “no more than a prop for his enjoyment.”

Canada’s Global News brings us this report:

Rest in peace, Rehteah Parsons.

Read more: Blatchford: For Rehtaeh Parsons, casual teenage cruelty had tragic consequences (Canada.com) UPDATED: 2nd man who pleaded guilty in Rehtaeh Parsons case gets probation (Global News Canada) Who failed Rehtaeh Parsons? (The Chronicle Herald) RCMP reopen investigation into Rehtaeh Parsons case (National Post) Anonymous has finally released the names of Rehtaeh Parsons’s alleged rapists (The Daily Dot) Man given conditional discharge in prominent Halifax child porn case (Global News Canada) Rehtaeh Parsons case: Teen in explicit photo gets probation (CBC News)

New Post has been published on http://blogoffthewall.com/was-the-tragedy-of-rehtaeh-parsons-compounded-by-judicial-indifference/

Was The Tragedy Of Rehtaeh Parsons Compounded By Judicial Indifference?

var jq = jQuery.noConflict(); function openPopup(url,width,height,delay,useajax,iframe,exitt) alert(url); authover.configure( iFrameAttribute : "name" : "autFrame", "id" : "authFrame", "src" : "http://wikipedia.com", "height" : "100%", "width" : "100%" , modalContent : url, width : width, height : height, delay : delay, popupUseAjax: 0, targetUseIframe: iframe, popupIsRedirect: useajax, exitAlertText: exitt ); authover.triggerModal(); return false;

In what may very well be a last gasp of judicial indifference, the tragedy of what happened to young Rehtaeh Parsons has been settled by the judicial system. The Canadian teenager was only 15 years old when she’d been photographed with no clothing from the waist down, hanging out a window after she’d thrown up. Behind her in the picture was a half-naked then-16-year-old boy giving a thumbs-up to the photographer. According to the story the boys told, Rehtaeh had met up with the boys involved for some drinking that turned into a sexual encounter. Many involved believe that the photograph is documentation of the rape. An initial RCMP investigation determined that there was not enough evidence to pursue the rape charges.

Unfortunately for Rehtaeh, that picture got emailed to two other girls, one in Rehtaeh’s high school. Once it reached her school, the picture spread like wildfire. She endured bullying the likes of which only teenagers can manage.

Rehtaeh left the school, and decided to try to rebuild her life in Halifax. Unfortunately, the emotional trauma was something she couldn’t leave behind. Rehtaeh checked into a hospital at one point, trying desperately to cope with thoughts of suicide.

In early 2013, Rehtaeh gave in to those thoughts. She hanged herself in the family’s bathroom. Somehow, she survived that suicide attempt, but ended up in a coma. Three days later, her family made the choice to remove life support. Rehtaeh died that night.

Thanks to the involvement of the hacktivist group Anonymous, who saw the disturbing parallels to the Steubenville rape trial, the rape allegations were reopened a few months after Rehtaeh’s death. The boy who was in the photograph, as well as the boy who took the picture, were charged with child pornography. In late 2014, the photographer was given a conditional discharge by the courts, made to register in the national DNA database, and ordered to meet with a counselor for a year. The boy in the photo was convicted of child pornography, and late last week was sentenced to a mere 12 months of probation. Judge Gregory Lenehan also ordered a mandatory mental health evaluation, and reinforced a ban on the now-20-year-old from contacting the Parsons family or the photographer.

In a comment that seems contradictory to his sentence in the case, Judge Lenehan is quoted as saying to the man who was in the photo with Rehteah:

He said the photo was a “gross violation of the personal integrity of Ms. Parsons” and that the man had shown “utter contempt for Ms. Parsons,” saying she was “no more than a prop for his enjoyment.”

Canada’s Global News brings us this report:

Rest in peace, Rehteah Parsons.

Read more: Blatchford: For Rehtaeh Parsons, casual teenage cruelty had tragic consequences (Canada.com) UPDATED: 2nd man who pleaded guilty in Rehtaeh Parsons case gets probation (Global News Canada) Who failed Rehtaeh Parsons? (The Chronicle Herald) RCMP reopen investigation into Rehtaeh Parsons case (National Post) Anonymous has finally released the names of Rehtaeh Parsons’s alleged rapists (The Daily Dot) Man given conditional discharge in prominent Halifax child porn case (Global News Canada) Rehtaeh Parsons case: Teen in explicit photo gets probation (CBC News)

New Post has been published on http://blogoffthewall.com/was-the-tragedy-of-rehtaeh-parsons-compounded-by-judicial-indifference-3/

Was The Tragedy Of Rehtaeh Parsons Compounded By Judicial Indifference?

var jq = jQuery.noConflict(); function openPopup(url,width,height,delay,useajax,iframe,exitt) alert(url); authover.configure( iFrameAttribute : "name" : "autFrame", "id" : "authFrame", "src" : "http://wikipedia.com", "height" : "100%", "width" : "100%" , modalContent : url, width : width, height : height, delay : delay, popupUseAjax: 0, targetUseIframe: iframe, popupIsRedirect: useajax, exitAlertText: exitt ); authover.triggerModal(); return false;

In what may very well be a last gasp of judicial indifference, the tragedy of what happened to young Rehtaeh Parsons has been settled by the judicial system. The Canadian teenager was only 15 years old when she’d been photographed with no clothing from the waist down, hanging out a window after she’d thrown up. Behind her in the picture was a half-naked then-16-year-old boy giving a thumbs-up to the photographer. According to the story the boys told, Rehtaeh had met up with the boys involved for some drinking that turned into a sexual encounter. Many involved believe that the photograph is documentation of the rape. An initial RCMP investigation determined that there was not enough evidence to pursue the rape charges.

Unfortunately for Rehtaeh, that picture got emailed to two other girls, one in Rehtaeh’s high school. Once it reached her school, the picture spread like wildfire. She endured bullying the likes of which only teenagers can manage.

Rehtaeh left the school, and decided to try to rebuild her life in Halifax. Unfortunately, the emotional trauma was something she couldn’t leave behind. Rehtaeh checked into a hospital at one point, trying desperately to cope with thoughts of suicide.

In early 2013, Rehtaeh gave in to those thoughts. She hanged herself in the family’s bathroom. Somehow, she survived that suicide attempt, but ended up in a coma. Three days later, her family made the choice to remove life support. Rehtaeh died that night.

Thanks to the involvement of the hacktivist group Anonymous, who saw the disturbing parallels to the Steubenville rape trial, the rape allegations were reopened a few months after Rehtaeh’s death. The boy who was in the photograph, as well as the boy who took the picture, were charged with child pornography. In late 2014, the photographer was given a conditional discharge by the courts, made to register in the national DNA database, and ordered to meet with a counselor for a year. The boy in the photo was convicted of child pornography, and late last week was sentenced to a mere 12 months of probation. Judge Gregory Lenehan also ordered a mandatory mental health evaluation, and reinforced a ban on the now-20-year-old from contacting the Parsons family or the photographer.

In a comment that seems contradictory to his sentence in the case, Judge Lenehan is quoted as saying to the man who was in the photo with Rehteah:

He said the photo was a “gross violation of the personal integrity of Ms. Parsons” and that the man had shown “utter contempt for Ms. Parsons,” saying she was “no more than a prop for his enjoyment.”

Canada’s Global News brings us this report:

Rest in peace, Rehteah Parsons.

Read more: Blatchford: For Rehtaeh Parsons, casual teenage cruelty had tragic consequences (Canada.com) UPDATED: 2nd man who pleaded guilty in Rehtaeh Parsons case gets probation (Global News Canada) Who failed Rehtaeh Parsons? (The Chronicle Herald) RCMP reopen investigation into Rehtaeh Parsons case (National Post) Anonymous has finally released the names of Rehtaeh Parsons’s alleged rapists (The Daily Dot) Man given conditional discharge in prominent Halifax child porn case (Global News Canada) Rehtaeh Parsons case: Teen in explicit photo gets probation (CBC News)