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Libel Online |
Case Type: |
Hypothetical.
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Exigence: |
On the general university newsgroup at Springfield State University an anonymous post accuses Prof. Wisdom, an untenured faculty member, of making sexual advances toward several students in her classes. A big brouhaha follows; and, although an inquiry board finds no evidence of improper conduct, she is eventually denied tenure. She sues SSU for libel.
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Audience: |
You, the trial court judge, deciding SSU's motion to dismiss.
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Possible |
Is Prof. Wisdom a public figure? Does it matter? Does the university setting make a difference? Assume that SSU has a newsgroup policy just like Northwestern's. In the case of Stratton, Oakmont v. Prodigy , a court held that an Internet Service Provider ("ISP") can be held liable for defamation it publishes. For some of the documents, see this EFF archive, and the court's decision. Another court reached an opposite conclusion; see the Cubby v. Compuserve decision. Chapter 4 of Sex, Laws, and Cyberspace by Jonathan Wallace and Mark Mangan (Henry Holt, 1996) reviews both cases. The decisions in the most recent cases, including Zeran v. America Online (1997) hold that after the 1996 federal law (the one that included the Communications Decency Act), ISP's are protected from defamation lawsuits. The Cyberspace Law Institute has a tutorial on libel law and its application to the 'net. Other online libel resources include: the Cyberlaw Encyclopedia entry on defamation; David Potts' Cyberlibel site (Canadian). Mike Godwin has published articles in the Electronic Frontier Foundation's archives on net libel and public figures.
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Decision: |
Up to you.
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Related |
Harm to individuals Internet Universities |
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Notes: |
If you don't like this hypothetical, try the one set up by Henry Pye in Online Defamation and Service Provider Liability There, a law student gets libelled!
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For help
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Copyright © 1998 Jean Goodwin. All rights reserved. jeangoodwin@nwu.edu Last updated The Free Speech website, http://faculty-web.at.nwu.edu/commstud/freespeech/ |
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