| I found that article you posted to be a really valuable roadmap of how these claims might proceed in NY, as well as some of the remaining unsettled issues. This article, published today, refers to a couple in Texas who just won a $13.8 million jury ruling for defamatory statements made anonymously against them on a website. The case is interesting, as the defendants are also being sued for malicious prosecution. They filed a sexual assault claim against the defamation plaintiffs, and then essentially launched a smear campaign on a forum website, Topix.com, alleging murder, pedophilia, and drug abuse. The case features a lot of the technical difficulties identified in the article previously posted, including multiple ISPs, discovery requests, etc.
While I understand hesitation in opening the floodgates for defamation suits based on Internet speech, I think it hits close to home for what we were talking about earlier in this thread. As more of our lives are conducted on the internet, our real life identities and our online actions will increasingly overlap. Imposing liability for speech on the internet, even when the person believes themselves anonymous, is an important step in signaling that people are accountable for what they do on the internet. While it has been true for quite some time, the important thing is that society become aware of it so we can begin to adjust our behavior.
-- CameronLewis - 25 Apr 2012 |