>>>>>What about the possibility that the flamer was well intentioned but simply wrong in his/her analysis. The statement would still be false and could still cause damage. I have misinterpreted numbers, accounting rules, etc... from time to time only to be corrected by someone else later. It would seem that you should have to prove that the person knowingly flamed the company with false info in order to cause damage. You shouldn't be able to sue for incompetence.<<<<<
Hi Wayne, I think I have the answer to your question. As I told you yesterday, truth is one defense in a defamation suit. Another defense is "fair comment," that the statement, even if inaccurate, was fairly made based on actual facts, that is, there was no malicious intent.
We have to accept that we are not just sitting around in our living rooms BSing. The things we post are public, and accessable to millions of readers, we are publishers in a way that few of us ever dreamed of being. Yet, at the same time, we are just individuals, speaking our minds. The balance between the rights and obligations of you and I as individuals, and you and I as publishers, has yet to be fully resolved by the legal system. But one thing is clear: the law of defamation does apply in cyberspace, we cannot claim to be self-regulating.
I have collected some links which may be helpful:
Excellent article on law of defamation on the Internet, written at a layman's level (good comments at the end of the article):
english.upenn.edu
Fairly straightforward article, written by a lawyer, sorta out of date, but good for intro material.
cl.ais.net
Online newsmagazine forum on defamation on the Internet:
english.upenn.edu
An on-line article written by a lawyer, at about student law-review level:
vilaw.com
A large collection of links, don't know if any of them work:
cyberlibel.com
Interesting article on cyberspace as a virtual reality which should or shouldn't be self-regulated:
sw.com
Article about law as applied to USENET. Author mentions how common flaming is on USENET boards:
webjcli.ncl.ac.uk
Defamation on the internet:
informationlaw.com |
