Ashley Smith reports: The New Hampshire Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday in a free-speech case that calls into question whether media outlets can protect the identities of anonymous online commenters. The case also has potentially broad implications in determining who constitutes the media in an Internet age that has blurred the line between traditional news…
Tag: defamation
Swartz v. Does: American and Canadian approaches to anonymity in internet defamation cases
Matthew Nied, a law student at the University of Victoria, writes: A recent case illustrates that American jurisprudence is increasingly coalescing around a uniform approach to determine whether a plaintiff may compel the disclosure of an anonymous defendant’s identity in internet defamation cases. As discussed below, the Canadian experience has been different. In Swartz v….
Conneaut councilman to sue peer over e-mail
Mark Todd reports: A Conneaut (Ohio) councilman is poised to sue another over e-mail messages posted last year, alleging Julio was involved in an extramarital affair. Ward 4 Councilman Tony Julio, at a press conference Friday afternoon, said Ward 1 Councilman Dave Campbell, under the user name “starsandbars,” posted messages in April 2008 on a…
Ex-Yale students settle internet AutoAdmit defamation lawsuit
Edmund H. Mahony reports: Two former Yale University law school students have quietly settled a high-profile lawsuit they brought against about two dozen anonymous authors who the students said defamed and threatened them by posting malicious falsehoods on an Internet message board. The terms under which the suit was resolved are confidential, and lawyers representing…