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Sun., May 2, 1999
DCI lawsuit raises Internet libel
concerns
By Luther Turmelle
STRATFORD - The Internet is becoming a place where
companies and their executives face an electronic brand of
frontier justice, says a New Haven attorney who
specializes in electronic communication issues.
Disgruntled individuals are using computer bulletin boards
to spread damaging and often false information to discredit
companies' reputations, says John Letizia, a partner in the
firm of Letizia, Ambrose and Cohen.
Computer bulletin boards are centralized information areas,
where individuals can leave, or "post," comments on
specific topics or subjects.
"People see this as an informal brand of justice," Letizia
said of damaging Internet postings. "People are essentially
beating up others with words, pictures and personal
information. The trouble is, once the information is out
there, you're forever tainting the reputations of others."
A Stratford-based company is being sued because its
executives allegedly orchestrated an Internet campaign to
discredit a former corporate official and his new company.
Because millions of people have access to the Internet,
corporations are getting tough on those who spread
information regarding the company on the Internet, he
said.
The $10 million lawsuit filed last week against DCI
Telecommunications of Stratford and a Seattle-based
bulletin board operator illustrates the power of Internet
postings, Letizia said.
The suit alleges that seven DCI executives orchestrated a
campaign to discredit Michael Zwebner, chairman of a
Cambridge, Mass., based videoconferencing company,
Talk Visual Corp. Zwebner is a former executive of a DCI
subsidiary, Card Call.
The Talk Visual suit is frivolous, responded DCI Chief
Executive Officer Joseph Murphy. He said DCI is
considering legal action of its own against Zwebner and his
company.
Murphy refused to comment further on the litigation,
which was filed in a Los Angeles Superior Court.
The 24-page suit claims DCI executives, including
Murphy, "were responsible" for Internet postings "that
sought to raise doubts about Mr. Zwebner and his
company in the investment community," said Mark Van
Wagoner, a Salt Lake City attorney representing Talk
Visual in the case.
The suit alleges that large numbers of Talk Visual
shareholders believed the posting and sold their holdings in
the company, which drove down the stock price.
Van Wagoner declined to comment on the motive DCI
officials might have for spreading rumors about Zwebner,
or on whether Murphy and other DCI executives had
made the postings themselves. But he said DCI's own Web
site contained false information about Zwebner and Talk
Visual for a brief period late last fall.
"I've tried to meet with them (DCI) on numerous
occasions before it went this far," Van Wagoner said. "All I
got was stonewalled."
One of the postings, dated Aug. 3, claimed Zwebner and
other executives of Talk Visual were under investigation by
the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Securities and
Exchange Commission. Talk Visual was known as Legacy
Software at the time of the posting.
The suit also names as a defendant Silicon Investor Inc.,
the company that maintains the bulletin board on which the
information about Zwebner and Talk Visual was posted.
For a $60 semiannual fee, members can access and post
comments on Silicon Investor's bulletin boards.
Officials of Go2Net, the Seattle-based parent company of
Silicon Investor, declined to comment on the suit.
The suit claims Silicon Investor's members agree not to
post libelous material on the company's bulletin boards.
Furthermore, the suit contends that once Zwebner and his
company challenged the postings, Silicon Investor should
have removed them from the bulletin board.
Lawsuits like the one facing DCI are relatively new. But
legal precedent has already been established making it clear
that bulletin board operators have an obligation to make
sure postings are not libelous or defamatory, Letizia said.
"The idea of don't shoot the messenger doesn't apply
here," he said. "The messenger can be shot."
Laws regarding libel on the Internet are evolving even as
cases are being tried, Letizia said.
"The courts are very far behind the technology," he said.
"You've got laws that were created to address the print or
broadcast media that in no way fit this new medium."
The New Haven Register 5/2/99 |
