Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Defamatory speech on the internet


ABA Journal  [hat tip Jersey Girl]

Masked by the Web's anonymity, internet users feel free to flame celebrities, blast politicians, or blow the whistle on employers for corporate misdeeds.

Burned by the postings, many plaintiffs resort to defamation suits. But in addition to the usual litigation issues, plaintiffs often find another one: plenty of defendants with the same name, John Doe.

"If we don't know who they are, we don't know where they are and we don't necessarily know what court to file in," says Gary Nissenbaum of Union, N.J., managing principal of Nissenbaum Law Group, which practices Internet law in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania. "Part of the reason this defamatory speech is so ubiquitous is because people assume they can never be found."[...]

2 comments:

  1. The laws are only needlessly complicated so that certain rabbis can twist the rules to protect themselves. But the essential component of shemiras halashon is that everyone is required to warn people about this rabbi and publicize his immoral actions so as to prevent people from sucumbing to his or any other frum rabbinical deceptions.

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  2. >Burned by the postings, many plaintiffs resort to defamation suits. But in addition to the usual litigation issues, plaintiffs often find another one: plenty of defendants with the same name, John Doe<

    You mean 'Anonymous', don't you? ;)

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