I love the web. I really do. I mean, how on earth would I get away with writing a satire on Commander in Chief Mr. Dubya as a paper for a university course? No way. If I hadn’t the opportunity to say what I think and to say it the way I want, what would I do? Print fliers and pamphlets or what? Would people believe me that I am a ferret if they saw my human appearance distributing fliers? I doubt it. Perhaps I could get a job at the NY Times? I don’t think they would take such a furry individual as myself on their staff. And how would they pay me? I take no money! Everybody knows that ferrets have an exclusive diet of chocolate milkshakes, Welsh goat’s cheese and tobacco.

So this is my space. And your space as well, dear reader. And the space of everyone out there who won’t settle for what is supposed to be “news reporting” and “well informed opinion” in the mainstream media. The Internet, dear cute animal lovers, is the Agora of our days. The public plaza where people are allowed to network in peace and think aloud undisturbed.

So I cannot help but sharpen my claws and look at my teeth on the mirror when I run across cases like this one:

Judge Shuts Down Web Site Specializing in Leaks

By ADAM LIPTAK and BRAD STONE
Published: February 20, 2008

In a move that legal experts said could present a major test of First Amendment rights in the Internet era, a federal judge in San Francisco on Friday ordered the disabling of a Web site devoted to disclosing confidential information.

The site, Wikileaks.org, invites people to post leaked materials with the goal of discouraging “unethical behavior” by corporations and governments. It has posted documents said to show the rules of engagement for American troops in Iraq, a military manual for the operation of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and other evidence of what it has called corporate waste and wrongdoing.

The case in San Francisco was brought by a Cayman Islands bank, Julius Baer Bank and Trust. In court papers, the bank said that “a disgruntled ex-employee who has engaged in a harassment and terror campaign” provided stolen documents to Wikileaks in violation of a confidentiality agreement and banking laws. According to Wikileaks, “the documents allegedly reveal secret Julius Baer trust structures used for asset hiding, money laundering and tax evasion.”

Another case of money rules over freedom of speech. Grrr… But wait a second! The gentlemen at wikileaks seem to have had the upper hand in the end and are now online again! Good for them. So I can go back to cyberhibernating in peace, unless…

Darn! Here’s another one:

Internet Free Speech Under Threat! Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute Sue SOTT for 4.47 Million Over SOTT Forum Comments!

Laura Knight-Jadczyk
sott.net
Fri, 07 Mar 2008 06:10 EST

Yesterday, as I was working on finishing up the next installment of the Comet Series of Articles, FedEx delivered a packet of mail from our corporate registered agent in the U.S. It was “Complaint and Demand for Jury Trial” filed in the State of Oregon by Eric Pepin’s Higher Balance Institute, LLC. The reason? A discussion on the SOTT Forum that begins HERE.

Well, that was entertaining enough when you think about the fact that the discussion that he objects to was centered on several newspaper articles that describe his close calls with the legal system in Oregon over charges of sex abuse.

The legal document I received is 10 pages long so I’m just going to summarize it here. If you want to read the whole thing (it’s hilarious beyond belief!) go HERE for the pdf.

[…]

Whoah! That’s some heavy duty stuff, eh? Sounds like we just ripped up on that poor guy for no reason at all!

But that’s not quite the situation. The original article about Eric Pepin that was brought to our attention on page 5 of the above-mentioned forum thread read as follows:

A 39-year-old Aloha man who promises spiritual awakening through meditation books and CDs he sells on the Internet is facing sex-abuse charges.

Beaverton police Detective Mike Smith said Eric J. Pepin runs what appears to be a cult out of his Higher Balance Institute on Southwest Second Street in Beaverton.

Pepin was arraigned Tuesday in Washington County criminal court on one count of using a child in a display of sexually explicit conduct, two counts of second-degree sexual abuse, and four counts of third-degree sexual abuse. He was released after posting $26,750 cash, or 10 percent of $267,500 bail. A trial was set for Sept. 12.

Using a child in a sexual display is a Measure 11 crime punishable by a mandatory minimum of 5 years and 10 months in prison.

Jamison Dwight Priebe, 21, who works for Pepin and lives at the same address in the 19600 block of Southwest Cooperhawk Court in Aloha, also was arrested on one count each of using a child in a sexual display and third-degree sexual abuse.

Priebe and Pepin turned themselves in at the Washington County Jail last week after a grand jury handed down secret indictments. Priebe was released after posting $25,375 cash bail and is awaiting arraignment Monday.

Smith said a man who is now 20 was 17 and working for Pepin when he allegedly was sexually abused at the Higher Balance office in the 11900 block of Southwest Second Street in Beaverton and at Pepin’s former home in the city.

A call to the Higher Balance Institute on Wednesday was answered by a “Personal Star Reach Coach,” who referred questions to Pepin’s private attorney, Sam Kauffman.

“The charges are false, and we are confident Mr. Pepin will be exonerated,” Kauffman said.

Pepin’s Web site claims he has located more than 100 missing persons and runaways, along with U.S. Navy submarines, through a psychic ability he calls “remote viewing.”

Pepin’s meditation systems, which sell for $79 to $149, help customers develop their “sixth sense” and apply it “inward to awaken a dimensional universe within the mind,” the Web site says.

According to an affidavit Smith filed with a request for a search warrant, the alleged victim told police that Internet customers who rave about Pepin’s teachings are men and women usually older than 35. But, the man said Pepin told him he should recruit “good-looking men” between the ages of 18 and 24 to work for him.

The court record also says Pepin knew the man was 17 when he forced him to perform sex acts.

The boy, Smith wrote, “was taught by Pepin to believe that the sexual contact was only a spiritual necessity.” But after a while, the affidavit says, the boy decided he was being used by Pepin, who bought him meals and paid him $200 after sex.

The man contacted Beaverton police in January.

Smith said anyone who may have had underage sexual contact with Pepin should call him at 503-526-2280.

Smith said the man accusing Pepin told police he met one of Pepin’s followers at Beaverton Town Square in April 2004. He told Smith the recruiter invited him to meet Pepin and see him demonstrate levitation.

Pepin introduced himself dressed in a robe emblazoned with the words “Master Eric” and a triangular symbol and told the victim to take off his shirt, the detective said.

“It’s a cult,” Smith said, “anytime you have a guy who fancies himself as the master, the leader.”

[…]

Up to now I always thought that “Master Pepin” was the little guy in Lord of the Rings who took care of getting the good guys into trouble. I never knew he would turn into a sexual predator and conman when he became an adult! Check it out:

[…]

The accuser said Pepin asked him how old he was the first day they met and that he told him the truth.

“He said students had to be 18 because he didn’t like parents fussing around,” the accuser said.

But within days the two were having sex, including a three-way encounter with Priebe, the youth testified. Pepin called it “crossing the abyss,” the accuser said, “surrendering yourself to your teacher, your master.”

Pepin testified he is gay and has had sexual relationships with most of his 11 employees, but not before they were 18. Pepin said he gave his accuser a job, even though the teen was a poor worker, and continued to be intimate with him and give him money after he was fired, to help him out.

Stephen A. Houze, Pepin’s private defense attorney, called the accuser a liar more than 100 times in his closing argument and noted that Pepin was “the perfect patsy” because society wants to believe the worst of a gay man. Houze said the accuser brought the charges because he wanted to shake down Pepin.

Pepin’s Higher Balance Institute, now on Northwest Saltzman Road in Cedar Mill, reached an annual high of $2 million in Internet sales of meditation CDs, tapes and books before his arrest in July.

[…]

That’s one master I’m not surrendering to!

Anyway. The long story made short is that a guy in a robe who calls himself “Master Eric” and who has made a whole load of cash by selling “psychic pills” is suing an Internet forum for commenting on a series of articles about his sexual (mis)conducts. That’s right: he is not suing the newspapers which wrote the articles, he is not suing the sources of the articles (among which we find “Master Eric”), nor is he suing himself for seducing almost the entirety of his staff - whether they were already 18 or not. He has decided to sue an Internet forum. It’s so surreal that it’s kind of a man-bites-dog story. I wonder what’s next, Bush bites ferret?! Brrr, shivers, shivers…

All my support goes to the sott.net people. In the words of Mel Gibson in Braveheart:

Frrreeedooom!!!