wowpow
March 24th, 2006, 09:33
The Guardian : March 24, 2006
A political argument that erupted in a remote corner of cyberspace and descended into vicious name-calling could lead to a spate of libel actions by contributors to internet message boards.
The dark side of the blogosphere was revealed by a libel action brought by Michael Keith-Smith, a former Conservative Party member who stood for the United Kingdom Independence Party in Portsmouth North, on the south coast of England, at the last election.
He said he was moved to sue after a woman with whom he was debating the merits of military action in Iraq began a campaign of name-calling that started by describing him as "lard brain" and culminated in labelling him a "Nazi", a "racist bigot" and a "nonce".
Judge Alistair MacDuff in the High Court ordered Tracy Williams, a college lecturer from Oldham, in north-west England, to pay ┬г10,000 ($24,000) in damages, plus Mr Keith-Smith's ┬г7200 costs, and told never to repeat the allegations.
The case is one of the first of its kind between two private individuals to go to court, said lawyers. It highlighted issues that would become more prominent as internet use continued to grow and blogging, social networking and community sites became yet more popular, they said.
Mr Keith-Smith said he took action after a debate about the Iraq war in 2003 on a Yahoo! message board with about 100 members turned ugly.
"She was very pro-[US President George] Bush. Initially, she called me lard brain and I wasn't particularly concerned about that. Then she called me a Nazi," he said.
He has also taken action against a second poster, he said, with whom he claimed to have settled for a sum "in the region of ┬г30,000".
"They started saying I was on a sex offenders' list and that people shouldn't let me near their children," said Mr Keith-Smith, who is also chairman of the Conservative Democratic Alliance, which bills itself as "the leading voice of the radical Tory right".
Legal experts said the case should be taken as a warning to the millions of people debating contentious issues on message boards, in chatrooms and on their own blogs.
The Guardian
A political argument that erupted in a remote corner of cyberspace and descended into vicious name-calling could lead to a spate of libel actions by contributors to internet message boards.
The dark side of the blogosphere was revealed by a libel action brought by Michael Keith-Smith, a former Conservative Party member who stood for the United Kingdom Independence Party in Portsmouth North, on the south coast of England, at the last election.
He said he was moved to sue after a woman with whom he was debating the merits of military action in Iraq began a campaign of name-calling that started by describing him as "lard brain" and culminated in labelling him a "Nazi", a "racist bigot" and a "nonce".
Judge Alistair MacDuff in the High Court ordered Tracy Williams, a college lecturer from Oldham, in north-west England, to pay ┬г10,000 ($24,000) in damages, plus Mr Keith-Smith's ┬г7200 costs, and told never to repeat the allegations.
The case is one of the first of its kind between two private individuals to go to court, said lawyers. It highlighted issues that would become more prominent as internet use continued to grow and blogging, social networking and community sites became yet more popular, they said.
Mr Keith-Smith said he took action after a debate about the Iraq war in 2003 on a Yahoo! message board with about 100 members turned ugly.
"She was very pro-[US President George] Bush. Initially, she called me lard brain and I wasn't particularly concerned about that. Then she called me a Nazi," he said.
He has also taken action against a second poster, he said, with whom he claimed to have settled for a sum "in the region of ┬г30,000".
"They started saying I was on a sex offenders' list and that people shouldn't let me near their children," said Mr Keith-Smith, who is also chairman of the Conservative Democratic Alliance, which bills itself as "the leading voice of the radical Tory right".
Legal experts said the case should be taken as a warning to the millions of people debating contentious issues on message boards, in chatrooms and on their own blogs.
The Guardian