To the lawyers and others here who may know, can someone be successfully sued for defammatory or derogatory comments made on an Internet forum? IP addresses can be traced. What if the site owner refuses to ID the offending poster? Can actions still succeed? What about the site? Can the owner be sued successfully for allowing this? What if the action being talked about was admitted by the offender but charges were dropped for some reason? I can't divulge the case but if one of the lawyers wants to PM me I may reveal specific details.
To the lawyers and others here who may know, can someone be successfully sued for defammatory or derogatory comments made on an Internet forum? IP addresses can be traced. What if the site owner refuses to ID the offending poster? Can actions still succeed? What about the site? Can the owner be sued successfully for allowing this? What if the action being talked about was admitted by the offender but charges were dropped for some reason? I can't divulge the case but if one of the lawyers wants to PM me I may reveal specific details.
Depends really on the website medium, what I do know, is that whenever SomethingAwful forums gets a cease and desist letter about libel/defamation, they just mock the lawyers and post the hilarity on their website.
At the end of the day, can it really be that big of a deal that you want to sue the internets?
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As far as I know, if the comments made are true to the best of the posters knowledge, nothing can be done.
If the comments are false and intentionally made to be defamatory, that poster can be held liable but the site owner does not have to comply with requests to ID the poster without a court order.
I'm not a lawyer but that's my understanding of it based on years and years of posting on/reading message boards.
The short answer is yes, you can most definitely be sued for comments made on an internet forum. It's not as simple as that, nor is any legal action, but it can, and has, happened.
The AutoAdmit case is the most high profile US example. Here's a breif rundown of it along with some analysis.
Anyone who sues someone who posts something 'defamatory' in the Internet is a big fuggin cry baby. Period.
I would agree with you for the better part, but unfortunately if someone posted something false about you, that ultimately cost you your job, or perhaps even your relationship / marriage, I think you have every right in the world to make that person liable.
If someone outed you for something that you actually did do, and can back it up, well that just your stupidity for letting it get out there.
The internet is very dangerous for any type of professionals nowadays. There are numerous posters on this board, myself included, who's real identities are known through doing business with many people on this board. All it would take is one really po'd person to create a nightmare that could cost thousands of dollars in legal bills to fix.
I know you can be sued for defamation from an email you send to someone who then forwards it. I also know that if the lawyer who sues you is employed pro bono for the Edmonton Journal then there is no hope in beating the lawsuit no matter if you think you are right or not.
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Exp:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Huntingwhale
Anyone who sues someone who posts something 'defamatory' in the Internet is a big fuggin cry baby. Period.
agreed ... same goes for people who ,kick people out of fantasy online games and forums to cover up that they are cheating to win the game as well. *Cough cough* FFHL *Cough cough* ... BWHAHAHHAHA
agreed ... same goes for people who ,kick people out of fantasy online games and forums to cover up that they are cheating to win the game as well. *Cough cough* FFHL *Cough cough* ... BWHAHAHHAHA
agreed ... same goes for people who ,kick people out of fantasy online games and forums to cover up that they are cheating to win the game as well. *Cough cough* FFHL *Cough cough* ... BWHAHAHHAHA
Internet defamation?
