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Your 'right' to online anonymity

novella

novella

Active Member
Do you know that you can be sued for slander for unfounded statements you make online, even if you post anonymously and ‘as a joke’?

I was reading this morning about the exposure of the identity of the Foetry.com dude, who has been posting on his own website various allegations against poetry contest judges. He’s been outed and might now be sued. His professional rep is very damaged, even if what he wrote was true.

A couple of years ago a NYC company my brother worked for fired a person, who then went online and said bad things (arguably true) about his former employer on a Yahoo site (where a lot of other former employees gathered to gripe). The employer brought a landmark suit to get Yahoo to give up the guy’s identity. She won. She then sued him for slanderous postings and won (the slander was along the lines of “that woman is nuts”, nothing outrageous) and he lost his new job because of it. (No company wants an employee who would do such a thing, right?)

Anyway, it’s something to bear in mind.
 
Honestly, I don't know. It gets very complicated.

If you are using a US website to post slander, then I guess US courts have jurisdiction, as far as revealing your identity. That might extend to all companies that do business in the US, whether they are headquartered here or not. Whether someone can legally go after you in another country would depend on what particular deals the US has with that country. It gets into all kinds of jurisdiction and international contract law areas. There are provisions for this of course. Otherwise it would be impossible to enforce international contracts. By posting on a website, you are entering into either an explicit or implicit contract with the site--that's why they have membership agreements.


I think because of the pervasive use of the internet and electronic international communications by terrorists and other criminals, these issues are becoming much more routine. For instance, I'm sure that the US has many agreements in place to allow for investigation and prosecution of people outside the US through regular open channels. Whether someone can actually get any money out of you or ruin your career is a different story.
 
Even for jokes? Half of my favourite TV programmes would disappear if we had a law like that.



When I was at university lecturer used to tell freshers a story to warn them about misusing computers. Apparently the FBI had come to the college to arrest a student because of hacking some US government website. After some negotiations and pleading by the university that the student was a bit of a computer-mad idiot rather than a terrorist, he was not prosecuted. I don't know if the story was true or not but, in any case, that was a serious offence.

But what about the First amendment


Is this an American website by any chance?
 
clueless said:
Even for jokes? Half of my favourite TV programmes would disappear if we had a law like that.
Click to expand...

You do have a law like that. The UK slander-libel laws are much stricter than the US, which is why a lot of US books get banned from selling in UK stores. Kitty Kelley's recent book on the Bushes is one example.

In the UK you have to prove that you didn't libel someone in order to get out of a suit. (guilty until proven innocent) In the US, the plaintiff has to prove you did libel someone. (innocent until proven guilty).

Also, the legal channels between the US and the UK are just about as open as you can get.

Here's a case where a UK court ruled that they will hear a suit brought by boxing promoter Don King against a US lawyer who posted 'libel' on a US website. So it cuts the other way. That's a UK court claiming some legal jurisdiction over slander on a US website.

The UK is notoriously difficult regarding slander and libel.


http://lawzone.thelawyer.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=112699&d=205&h=207&f=259
 
clueless said:
When I was at university lecturer used to tell freshers a story to warn them about misusing computers. Apparently the FBI had come to the college to arrest a student because of hacking some US government website. After some negotiations and pleading by the university that the student was a bit of a computer-mad idiot rather than a terrorist, he was not prosecuted. I don't know if the story was true or not but, in any case, that was a serious offence.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't surprise me if that was true - a similar thing happened at a university residence I lived in, although they didn't bring in the equivalent of FBI heavies, it was just the local police. I have no idea what the offence he committed was, they just hauled him away.

In terms of libel and what not... do you think this is a good thing? I mean, if you're being slandered over the internet I think you'd want to have some form of protection. I'm all for online anonymity, but if you break the law... It's a very tricky question.
 
novella said:
Do you know that you can be sued for slander for unfounded statements you make online, even if you post anonymously and ‘as a joke’?

I was reading this morning about the exposure of the identity of the Foetry.com dude, who has been posting on his own website various allegations against poetry contest judges. He’s been outed and might now be sued. His professional rep is very damaged, even if what he wrote was true.

A couple of years ago a NYC company my brother worked for fired a person, who then went online and said bad things (arguably true) about his former employer on a Yahoo site (where a lot of other former employees gathered to gripe). The employer brought a landmark suit to get Yahoo to give up the guy’s identity. She won. She then sued him for slanderous postings and won (the slander was along the lines of “that woman is nuts”, nothing outrageous) and he lost his new job because of it. (No company wants an employee who would do such a thing, right?)

Anyway, it’s something to bear in mind.
Click to expand...
Thats quite intresting :eek:
 
bobbyburns said:
that's true. I had the cops called on me last year for "threatening" to burn down some guy's house on a forum.
Click to expand...


so bobby how you feeling today? you ok? need anything? do want to sit down? do you need a drink of water? let's take a nice deep cleansing breath, inhale exhale, that's right, calming, soothing thoughts. lets go to your happy place, are you there? ok, good, do you need anything, can i get you a sandwich, beer anything? ok, good and comfy now? super. *jenn slowly, slowly backs out of the room*
 
Martin said:
Hmm, makes me wonder why you entered the room in the first place.

Cheers
Click to expand...


martin are you hungover? because your attempts at taking shots at me this a.m. are really sad. c'mon, "pathological liar"?

you are better than this? maybe you are in a bit of rut. well it is also monday. have you lost your mojo?(where is the mocking,concerned smilie?)
 
novella said:
Do you know that you can be sued for slander for unfounded statements you make online, even if you post anonymously and ‘as a joke’?
Click to expand...


but how do comedians escape this? it would seem that this would pose a huge problem for them as most of their material is technically slander.
 
Sometimes they do get in trouble. I think they are pretty careful what they say.

I seem to remember the English show Spitting Image getting sued a couple of times.

I think if what they are doing is clearly a parody, different rules apply. But if you just go on television and say, Rush Limbaugh is addicted to Oxycontin and wears a bra, you can get sued, even if you are a comedian.
 
novella said:
You do have a law like that. The UK slander-libel laws are much stricter than the US,

The UK is notoriously difficult regarding slander and libel.
Click to expand...

Yes, I know how strict they are about statements published in the press, etc., but I meant about jokes and personal opinions.
I didn't know about the Spitting Image cases; It probably happened before I moved to the UK, but there are so many programmes making fun of politicians and celebrities, that I didn't think libel laws apply to them.

If I state something as true and it is false, I can be sued for libel. If I say the same thing as a joke or give it as my opinion (as long as I say that is only a personal opinion, belief, etc.) then I cannot be sued for libel.
 
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