Anyone who runs an online message board, from the lowliest vanity blogger to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, can be charged under federal human rights law if visitors to their site post hateful comments, according to the Canadian Human Rights Commission. . . . "If a message board owner can't manage to ensure the content of the message board is complying with Canadian law, then the message board should not be operating," she said.

Athanasios Hadjis, who is hearing the case on behalf of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, questioned whether this applies even to messages that appear briefly, and without the owners knowledge or consent. He used the example of the CBC, which operates several chat forums for readers to discuss news stories, and asked what would happen if a hateful message somehow got past automatic filters and live editors.

He alluded to allegations that CHRC investigators themselves have even posted controversial comments to gain the trust of the operators of target websites.