[News] Brian Burke Fired - Nonis hired

[GGG]

So at what point does it become discussing a rumour vs. defamation. For example if tsn published the rumour and everyone here posted comments on it. Would we be part of the defamation or just TSN as they are the source of the rumour.

What if it is a less credible source like a blog, or even a guy at work who heard something. At what point does it become defamation vs discussion of news?

[normtwofinger]

What I don't get is if someone's is using their cell phone to post on CP, isn't their IP always different? Or is there another way to find them?

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by normtwofinger

What I don't get is if someone's is using their cell phone to post on CP, isn't their IP always different? Or is there another way to find them?

ISPs and telcos keep very detailed logs and will turn them over to law enforcement in the event of an investigation. They will be able to tell who and where the registered user was, right down to cell tower the signal came from and (possible) geolocation of the device the packets originated at. What they may not be able to prove was who made the post. The IP information is only going to identify the device the message was posted from, not the actual user.

[killer_carlson]

If this case goes to trial, it will have far reaching impact for online bullying cases as well.

[powderjunkie]

There is another case with similarities close to home...and with a bit of a hockey connection: Sunshine Village owner Ralph Scurfield Jr., (who IMO is a dirtbag), launched a suit against senior staff and unknown internet posters over a smear campaign against the mismanagement of SSV.

[getbak]

This guy has been doing some research into the people named in the suit: https://twitter.com/mc79hockey

Not surprising, the guy with the username "poonerman" is a bit of a dirtbag. He posted the Burke thing on a forum for Escort and Massage reviews.

[browna]

Originally Posted by getbak

This guy has been doing some research into the people named in the suit: https://twitter.com/mc79hockey

Not surprising, the guy with the username "poonerman" is a bit of a dirtbag. He posted the Burke thing on a forum for Escort and Massage reviews.

Ah, Mudcrutch of "Ty Conklin is better then Brodeur" posts from 5 years ago. Complete with spreadsheets of dubiously relevant stats.

That spit out this gem of a post http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showpos...&postcount=384 way back when, from this thread http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...=29509&page=6?

[jschick88]

As per tweet yesterday, next step in Brian Burke defamation lawsuit is to require ISP to provide identity of Defendants (if they have it)...

Jurisdiction may become an issue as uncover who some of them are - however if court asserts jurisdiction over a few may be victory

https://twitter.com/EricOnSportsLaw

[Locke]

I cant believe hes actually going to waste his time and money suing a bunch of people from the internet.

[jschick88]

Last week, Brian Burke filed a lawsuit against a handful of anonymous cowards who invented a bizarre fiction about his personal life and posted it on Web comment boards.

I won’t repeat the specifics of the lies they spread, for reasons that are probably obvious, but the thrust of the story was that Burke was fired as GM of the Toronto Maple Leafs because of his own moral failings, not because of the team’s performance or due to philosophical differences with ownership. In the interest of full disclosure, I can tell you that some of the lies involved a colleague of mine here at Sportsnet

http://www.sportsnet.ca/magazine/ste...online-haters/

[Red_Baron]

So what happens if your computer is turned on and you are signed into a message board and say one of your buddies posts something on your behalf? Would you be liable? We've all seen what happens when someone gets a hold of someone else's cellphone or computer and posts a facebook status or something like that.
How can they prove that it was actually the person behind the username typing in and submitting that message?

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Pierre "Monster" McGuire

Wow. Run Loob. Run.

EDIT - So how does this work? Does the Message Board owner get fined? It's got to be pretty difficult and probably not worth the effort to track down these posters.

There is a law in the US that shields forums and other sites with user submitted content (i.e.: Wikipedia) from lawsuits based on the postings of users in most cases. That's how content ripoff sites like Funnyjunk survive. "It wasn't us, it was the users. We're not stealing their content, we're just profiting off of it."

Originally Posted by CaptainYooh

Is this the first legal case of this kind, I wonder? I have not heard of similar cases, where anonymous forum users have been named in a lawsuit. Someone in US have sued for violations of game rules in some silly Internet-based "game of life" (the name escapes me at this moment), although I didn't hear how it had evolved thereafter. But this is so different on so many levels!

Speaking of Funnyjunk, the lawyer behind that one tried suing a blogger and various commenters and got slapped down by the courts. It's happened a fair bit in the US. I have no idea how this would work in Canada though. I suspect CP is fine since they obviously took prompt action to remove, but this could be an interesting case to follow.

[Resolute 14]

Incidentally, this might be worth a new thread/split since the title does not reflect the discussion.

[SportsJunky]

I see Sir Psycho Sexy is checking out CP this morning.

Any comments Sir?

[UKflames]

Originally Posted by Red_Baron

So what happens if your computer is turned on and you are signed into a message board and say one of your buddies posts something on your behalf? Would you be liable? We've all seen what happens when someone gets a hold of someone else's cellphone or computer and posts a facebook status or something like that.
How can they prove that it was actually the person behind the username typing in and submitting that message?

This defence doesn't hold water any more after it was thrown out during early cases against file sharers. Whilst in reality it is a very possible scenario, the courts no longer accept it.

[jschick88]

A first-year university student — one of 18 people whose anonymous aliases are named in a defamation suit filed by former Leafs general manager Brian Burke — is baffled by the attention his post has received.

Zack Bradley is the 20-year-old Carleton University journalism student from Oshawa behind a Wordpress blog who posts under the alias “THEzbrad.”

“It’s a crazy idea, right? . . . I thought it was just a rumour. I said speculation,” Bradley told the Star on Monday. “What I said wasn’t probably true and I just removed it because I don’t want anything bad to happen in the future.”

About a month ago, Bradley said, a lawyer claiming to represent Mae contacted him twice through private messages on Facebook requesting that his post — which was published online on Jan. 17, a week after Burke was removed from the helm of the NHL team — be taken down by a certain date or he would face legal action.

“I thought this can’t be that important if he messaged me on Facebook,” Bradley said. “I really didn’t take it seriously.”

“When I posted it, there wasn’t anything really on the web about it,” he said. “It got a lot of views, and so I guess that’s why he’s not liking it so much.”

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/20..._big_deal.html

[trublmaker]

Originally Posted by Locke

I cant believe hes actually going to waste his time and money suing a bunch of people from the internet.

he doesn't care about the time or money,he wants to make a point and he will. Good for him.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by jschick88

http://www.thestar.com/news/crime/20..._big_deal.html

The kid is a journalism student and he's posting stuff like that?

He's got a bright future in his chosen field.

[Clever_Iggy]

Good job dumbass - "What I said wasn't probably true and I just removed it because I don't want anything bad to happen in the future."

I hope, and trust, Burke pursues this thoroughly. He's the type of person that just on principle will expend time and money to "right this wrong". I just wish I was privy to the discovery process... interesting from the perspective of lifting the veil on assumed internet anonymity.

[CaptainYooh]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

There is a law in the US that shields forums and other sites with user submitted content (i.e.: Wikipedia) from lawsuits based on the postings of users in most cases. That's how content ripoff sites like Funnyjunk survive. "It wasn't us, it was the users. We're not stealing their content, we're just profiting off of it."

Speaking of Funnyjunk, the lawyer behind that one tried suing a blogger and various commenters and got slapped down by the courts. It's happened a fair bit in the US. I have no idea how this would work in Canada though. I suspect CP is fine since they obviously took prompt action to remove, but this could be an interesting case to follow.

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.