Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainYooh
I see a lot more "opportunities" for lawyers here even in a hockey forum environment alone. Say, a poster posts a rumour about a contemplated player move that proves true. His agent (owner, manager or a player himself) takes an issue with the effect of the rumour on the outcome (positive or negative) and challenges the breach of confidentiality and process integrity within the parties involved by demanding to know who leaked the information? I'd say this COULD be perceived as a fair request by the courts. No defamation, no libel, just a rumour.
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I'd really love to read the opinions of any of our Canadian lawyers here. I have an oddly better understanding of how it all works in the US because of things like the Prenda case and from leading popehat.com lately.
But in this scenario, I would have to guess the signal to noise ratio is so high that it would be nearly impossible to prove that a forum post could have a noticeable impact on a player decision. Just think of how many bullcrap rumours are spread on CP, then multiply by every forum out there. Then add tools like Eklund. Then add agents using Twitter and the media to make statements. Then add people like Garrioch, Dowbiggin and Brooks, whom I distrust to the point of wondering how accurate anything they say is. Then add guys like Dreger and MacKenzie, and the others that have legit sources.
Ultimately though, I think the only thing Bingo or the mods could do if a court demanded information was to hand over the IP addresses associated with a user account. The complaining party would then have to get a subpoena to force the relevant ISP to tie that to an account name. Then you have to figure out who is tied to the account if there is more than one person in the house. Probably more trouble than its worth.