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To: DMaA who wrote (16622)	7/14/1998 3:35:00 PM
From: Moonray	Respond to of 22053

Net defamers at risk after Ontario court ruling The Financial Times - Posted at 6:35 a.m. PDT Tuesday, July 14, 1998 TORONTO -- People who make defamatory remarks on the Internet may become more vulnerable to legal action following a Canadian court ruling that forces several Internet service providers to reveal the identities of subscribers using pseudonyms. The Ontario court order was obtained by Philip Services, a Canadian waste recycling company which has alleged it was defamed in an Internet discussion group by individuals using pseudonyms. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a U.S. free speech advocacy group, said the court ruling, which came to light last week, was ''very disturbing.'' Foundation president Barry Steinhardt said the ruling seemed to provide Philip Services with private information. It also threatened the ability of individuals to use pseudonyms on the net. But David Potts, a Canadian lawyer specializing in Internet libel, said the decision served notice that people must ''act the same way online as off-line.'' Mike Godwin, an authority on cyberspace rights, predicted there would be a similar outcome in a U.S. court should a corporation seek the identity of an Internet user alleged to be defaming it. The ruling could prompt other businesses to launch similar legal actions to identify their online critics, U.S. libel lawyers said. The case may also have repercussions beyond the jurisdiction of the Canadian court. George Clark, a media and libel lawyer at Reed Smith Shaw and McClay in Washington, said legal decisions involving the Internet were watched closely around the world because of the global scope of cyberspace. Philip Services, a former stock market darling, has recently seen its share price plunge by about 80 percent after suffering trading losses, the departure of key officials and accounting errors that forced it to restate results and reveal big losses. Internet users with pseudonyms, posting messages to a board maintained by Yahoo!, the U.S. online media group, made allegations about the company and its executives which the company felt were highly defamatory and abusive. The court order will provide Philip Services with account information as well as all Internet messages sent by about 10 individuals. While individuals can use a pseudonym online, their real names and addresses are known to the service provider for billing purposes. It was not clear how Philip Services intended to proceed. The company is not alone as a target of self-styled business commentators on the Internet. Microsoft, for example, is frequently lambasted in Internet chat groups and Intel fell foul of online critics when it discovered a flaw in its original Pentium microprocessor chip. Yet neither Microsoft nor Intel has brought legal action. To do so ''could have a chilling effect on free speech on the Internet, which we have staunchly defended'', Microsoft said. Intel said it would not want to limit open discussion, no matter how critical. Mama was right, "If you don't have anything good to say,.....". o~~~ O