Libel and Defamation in the Information Age
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Description: Eric Eden's article concludes with "The reality is that libel and defamation laws are enforceable in the virtual world just like they are in the real world".
(April 01, 1995)
Libel & Defamation in the Information Age [email protected] [email protected] Libel & Defamation in the Information Age On the Internet, where abnormal behavior is the status quo, tempers can flare in the heat of debate and word wars can last for days or even weeks. It's not uncommon for users to ridicule, harass or insult those who disagree with them. But if you damage someone's reputation by trying to embarrass them in a public forum, you could be sued for libel or defamation. After all, there's no reason to assume that the messages you send through cyberspace are immune from lawsuits. "The Internet culture right now is for users to refute speech with speech," says Dave Marburger, the attorney who represented Brock Meeks in one of the first defamation lawsuits in the United States involving the Internet. "But as the Internet culture gets more diverse, users will start refuting speech with lawsuits." There have only been a handful of libel and defamation lawsuits filed involving the Internet so far, but as the Net grows, the number of lawsuits will probably increase. If the few court battles that have been decided involving libel and defamation on the Net are any indication of how the law will be applied to the Internet in the future, it's worth your time to learn what's libelous or defamatory on the Internet and what's not. Other users have the right to sue you for defamation if they can prove you damaged their reputation or good name with false information. You can be sued for libel if another user can prove you have distributed defamatory statements about them in a public area -- such as a news group or mailing list. In April of 1993 Gil Hardwick, an anthropologist in Australia, was ordered by the Australian Supreme Court to pay David Rindos $40,000 in damages because he defamed Rindos on an international mailing list. After Rindos lost his job at the University of West Australia, Hardwick posted a message on an international disscussion g
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