Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

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Pastimes : Legal proceedings via SI -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ztect who wrote (6)	12/13/1998 2:49:00 AM
From: Bill Ulrich	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 242

Completely agree with your post, and, btw: &#147Now regarding the attorney who wrote that message. I simply believe he was making a statement via this medium. That particularly attorney does NOT have to solicit for work.&#148 Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, but you have some familiarity with this gentleman? I'll be rooting for him - hope he wins his case!

To: ztect who wrote (6)	12/13/1998 3:47:00 PM
From: Lynn	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 242

{quote begin] Since message boards are now considered a media like any other media, any statement that can be construed as libelous can be persecuted as if these statements were written in a newspaper or stated on the nightly news with one major difference. Unlike newspapers and televisions that have limited range for their audiences, the Internet has a global audience. Thus the negative impact of libelous statements has greater consequence and, in turn, the damages being sought will be much LARGER. [quote end] I wonder whether one of the reasons SI permits members to use handles rather than their full names is to curtail potential litigation. For example, lets say a SI member called 'Poka' starts spreading libelous statements about another member, named 'Bossinova [spelling?].' There can be no real world damage to Bossinova since only the webmistress, Jill, knows the real identity of him/her. In this hypothetical scenario, there is no cause for legal action in my estimation. I am not a lawyer and basically stumbled upon this thread, but liability on the internet is a topic of interest to me. I think we shall be seeing new laws created during the next few years as communication expands over the internet. In terms of SI, I wonder if this will result in changes to their membership policy. Right now, a person has two weeks before he/she has to pay and become a regular member. A lot of damage can be done in two weeks and if the person then does not join, there is no way he/she can be traced--until SI gets a person's VISA number [and verifies it], the sign-up information could be false. Lynn