Judge David Stone of the British Columbia Provincial Court warned local reporters earlier this week, when the trial began, not to report details of the case - in which Vancouver farmer Robert Pickton is accused of murdering 15 prostitutes - because they could prejudice the jury.
However web sites have already started carrying news of the story. Seattletimes.com has aired excerpts of an interview with the accused, made by an undercover policeman.
There is now debate over whether Vancouver residents should be able to read uncensored news of the trial on the web.
Lucy Mohl, senior news producer for Seattletimes.com, told Wired magazine that the issue revolved around whether the judge believed they could restrict readership based on geographical region in the age of the internet. "They're looking at either shutting out all media, or understanding that we're in a different world now," she said.
Sreenath Sreenivasan, journalism professor at Columbia University and director of the School of Journalism's Online Journalism Awards programme, pointed out that even if certain sites were blocked for Canadian users, it would be easy for them to access the news through an internet service provider (ISP) based in another country.
Source: http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,57272,00.html
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