libel on the internet

[Michael Froomkin - U.Miami School of Law]

I don't know if this is the first verdict (other than a default judgement)
in the US; many cases have been filed but they may all have settled. I do
know that cyber-libel verdicts have been rendered abroad.  I believe that
the first one ever was the 1994 Rhidos v. Hardwick case in Australia,
reproduced at http://mark.law.auckland.ac.nz/cases/Rindos.html

On Wed, 3 Jan 2001, Michael A. Bellesiles wrote:

> 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

There is a specific protection for list servers and other transmitters of
un-edited information.  It allows them even to filter posts (yes/no), and
still not be liable, akin to distributors rather than publishers.  It is
at 47 U.S.C. sec. 230. See Zeran v. AOL, 129 F.3d 327 (CA4, 1997) for a
discussion.

Of course, people remain liable for the contents of their own libel.

> messages equally liable? It seems to me that this case could raise a
> number of very interesting issues. Best wishes, Michael B.
>

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