libel on the internet

[Michael A. Bellesiles]

Have you all heard of a recent case involving a former colleague of mine
at Emory, Dr. Sam D. Graham, Jr? He just won a libel suit in US District
Court for a posting on Yahoo! that had accused him of fraud in his
research as a result of bribes. His lawyers state that this is the first
libel verdict based on an internet message. I am working on an article on
the web as an agency of the misinformation revolution and am very
interested in this case. Any of you know about it? Any opinions on what
this could mean for list-serves and such? Are the hosts of libelous
messages equally liable? It seems to me that this case could raise a
number of very interesting issues. Best wishes, Michael B.
Michael Bellesiles
Department of History
Emory University
Atlanta, GA 30322
404) 727-4467  fax (404) 727-4959
mbelles at emory.edu