An Oregon judge has handed down a ruling that will make it easier for anonymous posters to libel people on-line – and make it just about impossible for people who are libeled to do anything about it.
As reported in The Oregonian, Clackamas County Circuit Judge Pro Tem James Redman ruled in October that Oregon’s reporters’ “shield law” protects those who operate Internet forums – such as this one – from having to disclose the identities of those who post on them. The judge also ruled that under federal law the proprietors of the forums can’t be held liable for what’s posted on them.
Redman’s ruling came in the case of Portland businessman Terry Beard, who sued the Portland Mercury, Willamette Week and Bikeportland over anonymous comments posted on their websites.
The posts about Beard “were mostly trash talk, comments that were probably more personally hurtful than materially damaging,” writes Oregonian reporter Steve Mayes. However, “Under the right circumstances in Oregon, even anonymous comments that destroy a career or drive a person to suicide potentially could be protected” thanks to Redman’s ruling.
The Eye’s considered opinion – and let us make it very clear that our opinions are our own, not necessarily those of the Source or its management – is that this ruling sucks big-time.
Web forums offer a venue for the most sick, twisted, bitter, vindictive and just plain crazy individuals in society to vent their hatred for other individuals – or the world in general – from behind a screen of anonymity. The ruling essentially means that whatever vileness somebody accuses you of on the Web – embezzlement, child abuse, mass murder – you have no recourse against him or against the business that allowed him to spew his lies.
The Eye can’t see what compelling public purpose is served by that. If Redman correctly interpreted the state and federal laws, then those laws need to be changed – ASAP.
This article appears in Dec 18-24, 2008.
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It’s good to see someone involved in online discussions is dismayed at this ruling. Any print publisher is liable for the content — the shield law would always protect the source, but libel is libel. Note that KTVZ’s online coordinator has already voiced a very different opinion of this ruling — he (or whoever posted under his name) welcomes it as a relief. Very sad.
I hear you HBM and personally strongly dislike idiots spewing but there’s the equally if not more frightening possibility of a deep-pocketed person obtaining the ID of a poster and using their money to utilize the legal system to attack someone who posted something the deep-pocketed person didn’t like. That’s why the laws specify and make distinct libel and slander with regards to freedom of speech. A tough line to walk, eh?
“there’s the equally if not more frightening possibility of a deep-pocketed person obtaining the ID of a poster and using their money to utilize the legal system to attack someone who posted something the deep-pocketed person didn’t like.”
Possible, I guess, but it seems pretty unlikely. Also the deep-pocketed person would have no legal recourse unless he actually had been libeled — in which case I believe he SHOULD have recourse. You can’t sue someone just for writing something you disagree with or don’t like — not in this country, anyhow. Even ordinary generic name-calling (jerk, idiot, hypocrite, etc.) would not be actionable, IMO.
Free Speech. That is what this is all about. Do you really know what a monster this man is. He has a sense of privelage I have never seen before. I know this man. He thinks he is above the law. Why was Terry Beard so secretive when filing a lawsuit as “TS” instead of his own name? Ask his family how he mistreated his parents and gay brother. If you play with matches you are going to get burned. As I know Terry Beard, I can say the only people that like him are his new money friends that feel the same sense of privelage. I am so glad there is some justice in this process and that Terry Beard lost the lawsuit and made a complete idiot of himself yet again. He has also run thru more managers, CEO’s, Presidents, and employees than the US Gov’t as he thinks he is god. Take a look in the mirror Terry.
Terry beard deserved this and brought it on himself. Waah waah waah, what a baby, if you don’t sing him praises, he sues you or fires you…thanks for protecting the average person from deep pocketed people like Terry.