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kilmeedyman
27-10-2007, 01:35 AM
A timely reminder of why we have forum rules. Worth noting, though as it is now commonplace in an English court.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2007/oct/22/news.blogging

Clare Dyer, legal editor
The Guardian
Monday October 22 2007

Disgruntled fans of Sheffield Wednesday who vented their dissatisfaction
with the football club's bigwigs in anonymous internet postings may face
expensive libel claims after the chairman, chief executive and five
directors won a high-court ruling last week forcing the owner of a website
to reveal their identity.

The case, featuring the website owlstalk.co.uk, is the second within days
to highlight the danger of assuming that the apparent cloak of anonymity
gives users of internet forums and chatrooms carte blanche to say whatever
they like.

In another high court case last week, John Finn, owner of the Sunderland
property firm Pallion Housing, admitted just before he was due to be
cross-examined that he was responsible for a website hosting a scurrilous
internet campaign about a rival housing organisation, Gentoo Group, its
employees and owner, Peter Walls.

Exposing the identity of those who post damaging lies in cyberspace is a
growth area for libel lawyers.

Dan Tench, of Olswang, the law firm representing Gentoo, said: "This case
illustrates an increasingly important legal issue: proving who is
responsible for the publication of anonymous material on the internet.
This is likely to be a significant issue in defamation cases in the
future."

The website Dadsplace, set up to campaign against perceived injustices in
the family courts, had a forum where anonymous postings made various
accusations against Gentoo, Mr Walls and his staff.

Those posting the comments went to considerable lengths to hide their
identity, and Gentoo's lawyers ran up a bill estimated to be about
£300,000 - which Mr Finn will now have to pick up, along with any damages
awarded - taking the case to court and amassing circumstantial evidence
that he was behind the website.

Revealing the Sheffield Wednesday fans was comparatively easy since there
was no secret about the website owner. The next move was to apply for a
court order requiring him to reveal the identities of "Halfpint" and the
other fans behind what the club's lawyers described as a "sustained
campaign of vilification". Fans made serious allegations against the
club's chairman, Dave Allen, and directors and shareholders.

The club's lawyers asked the judge, Richard Parkes QC, to order disclosure
about the identity of 11 fans.

But the judge decided some fans, whose postings were merely "abusive" or
likely to be understood as jokes, should keep their anonymity.

The judge ordered that three fans whose postings might "reasonably be
understood to allege greed, selfishness, untrustworthiness and dishonest
behaviour", should be unmasked. Their right to maintain their anonymity
and express themselves freely was outweighed by the directors' entitlement
to take action to protect their reputation, he said.

Court orders obliging websites to disclose the identity of users posting
anonymous defamatory remarks began in 2001.

Dominic Bray, of K&L Gates, Sheffield Wednesday's solicitors, said: "There
seem to be quite a lot of websites that are using their anonymity to make
comments about people and think that there shouldn't be any liability for
it. But the internet is no different to any other place of publication,
and if somebody is making defamatory comments about people then they
should be held responsible for it. What these cases do is just confirm
that's the law - the law applies to the internet as much as it does to
anything else."

Corabar Entertainment
27-10-2007, 01:58 AM
A timely reminder of why we have forum rules.Too true Phil! .... at least it is ONE of the reasons. I don't understand why some people feel the need to be abusive behind the keyboard, and to come out with lies and defamatory comments here and there.

I'm pleased to say though, that it's not something that we get very often on here, but on the rare occasions it does happen, we do our best to nip it in the bud and take any 'necessary' action.

BeerFunk
27-10-2007, 09:40 AM
It would be a bit naive to think that you can't be tracked if need be, your IP address is logged with your ISP, who have your name and address... besides that, it is very cowardly hiding behind a keyboard and monitor.