Law Commons^™

Corporate Cybersmear: Employers File John Doe Defamation Lawsuits Seeking The Identity Of Anonymous Employee Internet Posters, Margo E. K. Reder, Christine Neylon O'Brien

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Communications systems are now wide open and fully accessible, with no limits in range, scope or geography. Targeted audiences are accessible with pinpoint accuracy. Messages reach millions of readers with one click. There is a chat room for everyone. Most importantly, there is no limit on content. Therefore, employees can register their dissatisfaction by posting a message in a chat room. Moreover, the identity of the posting employee is not easily discoverable due to anonymous and pseudonymous communications capabilities. The nature of these online messages is qualitatively different from real-world communications. By way of example, newspapers have a responsibility regarding …

Litoral: A New Form Of Defamation Consciousness, Kim Von Arx

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

With the Internet, quickly becoming ubiquitous, the question arises: how does the Internet, and more specifi- cally computer-mediated-communication (CMC), affect people’s lives?

This paper will explore CMC in the Western world as an instance of Walter J. Ong’s notion of secondary orality. It will seek to determine whether the proposed shift in communicative and social consciousness elimi- nates the need for the common law distinction between libel and slander in the online communication environ- ment. The paper is divided into three parts. In the first section, the elements of primary orality and the shift of consciousness from a primary oral …

Don't Shoot The Messenger! A Discussion Of Isp Liability, Andrew Bernstein, Rima Ramchandani

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

In today’s world of rampant networked communica- tion, the Internet Service Provider (‘‘ISP’’) finds itself in a uniquely vulnerable position. As the conduit through which content is disseminated to a numerically and geo- graphically vast audience, the obvious legal risk to ISPs is that those who provide content will do so in a way that attracts legal liability. Like many communications prov- iders (such as publishers or broadcasters), the ISP may have to assume some responsibility for simply providing the means of transmitting content. In some cases, the ISP is more actively involved in the transmission or is know- ingly …

Who Was That Masked Man? Online Defamation, Freedom Of Expression, And The Right To Speak Anonymously, Jonathon T. Feasby

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

As the internet continues to reach into the lives of people around the world, it facilitates interaction and the exchange of ideas between far-flung individuals and groups to an extent unprecedented in communications history. However, with this positive effect, the potential of the internet as a forum for defamation and other malfeasance has increased as well. Words online can be heard or read in places conventional forms of speech might never reach. As the United States Supreme Court put it, with the aid of the internet ". . . any person with a phone line can become a town crier …