Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (July 26/99) - It's either a testament to the mean-spirited bravado fostered by anonymity or a vehicle for free speech, depending on whether you are a subject or a participant.

However you characterize it, there can be no question the Nunanet Political Discussion Forum is the most popular discussion board in the North.

"It was an experiment," said forum moderator Marcel Mason, who created the forum about four years ago. "When it was set up we had no idea it would be this popular."

Electronic discussion boards allow those with Internet access to write and display messages that can be read by anyone else with Internet access.

"It's sort of like a soap opera," said Mason. He thought about the comparison a moment then corrected himself. "No, I can't compare it to a soap opera because they don't have any redeeming value."

The redeeming value of the forum, said Mason, is its use as a tool for free speech. It allows people to criticize institutions, particularly government, without fear of retribution or retaliation...it gives people an opportunity to say, ŒThis is what I think is wrong.'"

The vast majority of the Internet users who post messages in the forum use aliases. Though political figures are often the focus, much of the discussion would be more accurately characterized as gossip and, occasionally, the gossip is malicious.

Minister of Health and Social Services and Iqaluit MLA, Ed Picco, said the discussion was constructive when the forum started up, but has degenerated lately.

"Over the last several months there's been a lot of derogatory comments, a lot of slamming people and attacking people's personalities and stuff like that," said Picco.

Picco said that as a result of the degenerating debate, he has not checked in to the forum for the last few weeks."I just find it too hurtful," he said.

Others share Picco's low opinion of the forum.

"They allow free speech without any responsibility or accountability and it's damaging this community," said businessman Bryan Pearson. "They allow innocent people to be slaughtered in public."

Pearson said the kind of comments that are publicized in the forum would constitute libel if they appeared in the newspaper.

Mason said there is a distinction to be made between postings on the forum and, for example, letters to the editor published in a newspaper.

"The difference between what we do and what a newspaper does is that the editor gets a letter, reviews it, and makes a conscious decision to put it in the newspaper.

"In the political discussion forum there is no review. It's immediate. Now, we may be held responsible for leaving something on."

Mason said he recognizes that some people abuse the forum.

"No doubt people, and a goodly number of them, abuse the privilege of being anonymous and use it to pursue personal vendettas. That's just total abuse.

"If an individual wants to hire a lawyer and get a court order that says ŒTell me who (wrote the message),' there's no way I would attempt to fight a court order for messages like that," Mason said.

The process of tracking down the true identity of message writers takes hours, said Mason. He added that he would have a problem complying with a court order applying to a message he felt was a responsible exercise of free speech. Mason said he relies largely on users policing themselves. When they don't, he removes messages he judges unfit for the forum as soon as he sees them.

"But you can't monitor it 24 hours a day, it's impossible," said Mason.

He said Nunanet has received "numerous" letters from lawyers representing people attacked on the forum, but has yet to be taken to court.