Porn re-router fined $15,000

[gonzo]

A man has been ordered to pay $15,000 in damages after he set up a shadow website for a Canmore bicycle shop that re-routed Internet users to a gay pornography website.

In 2004, Ryan Draper bought the domain name InformCycle.com, according to a decision by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Scott Brooker that was released Friday.

At the time, Draper worked for a Canmore bike shop called Rebound
But domain name he purchased was a near copy of the website for Inform Cycle, another local bicycle shop whose address was InformCycle.ca.
At first, InformCycle.com forwarded users to Rebound's website. But for 16 days in November 2004, Draper programmed the web page to take customers to a gay pornography site.

That meant people looking for Inform's website -- but who accidentally typed ".com" instead of ".ca" -- were redirected to the pornography.
Draper, the decision says, had once worked for the owners of Inform, Patrick Griffith and Lorie Griffith, in a previous business venture.
Draper claimed he was still owed money and figured this was a way to get his former employers' attention.

Brooker's judgment ruled on damages suffered by Inform and its owners. He writes that Draper's decision to re-route people to the porn site "smacks of malice."

"I find that the true reason for Draper's actions was to embarrass and harm Inform and its principals, the Griffiths, by attempting to link them to this smut, thereby harming the goodwill that Inform was attempting to establish in its new business," Brooker writes.