I found this interesting not only because, as Zorn point's out, this takes things to a different place, but because of the intriguing, amplifying effect that blogging can have on anything.
Consider that the original comments made by Mr. Nyberg are the cause of action in the suit, but excerpting exactly those same comments in the Chicago Tribune is just "news", and little old me reprinting a slice of that completes the cycle of life in as G-rated, non-litigious and positively virginal a way as one could ask for outside of the Promise Keepers.
via Eric Zorn.
Originally posted: September 19, 2005
Blogger: I'm being sued for a million bucks
Forest Park-based multi-blogger Carl Nyberg (Collective Interest, Beyond the Duopoly; Blogging Blagojevich’s Blunders ) reports here that a target of his withering criticism in his new Proviso (Township) Probe blog is suing him for $1 million plus. One portion of the suit, as quoted on his blog, reads:Throughout NYBERG'S postings on his web blog, NYBERG repeatedly attacks plaintiff's character and integrity, calling him a "liar" and insinuating he associates with corrupt individuals.... Defendant NYBERG further insinuates that (plaintiff) is comfortable with illegal activity... that he is an unethical attorney ...and that he engages in nepotism...
Nyberg, a journalist and political activist whose resume says he was graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1989 and was an active duty Naval officer until 1996...
(ed. an email follows)
[But] I'll note that it's a milestone of sorts -- a form of validation, even -- for a community blogger to find himself the subject of such an action
As far as I know, Nyberg is the first resident of Blogginois to report being sued.
The lone commentor on Mr. Zorn's blog also notes that this is, "Just one more reason to blog using a nom de guerre." A comment with which I would disagree. Obviously not because I have any problem with a person Scarlet Pimpernelling themselves hither and yon and back again, but rather because I believe one should studiously avoid anything that's gonna get you sued in the first place. Walk the line, but do not cross the line because, like it or not, the reality is no one's more than one subpoenaed ISP away from fame anyway.
11 comments:
This raises a fundamental but no less fascinating question: Is it possible to actually be guilty of libel anywhere on a perishable medium such as the Internet? And can the ISP administrators also be held liable?
jurassicpork,
Actually I'm working the same question from a different angle. There was an essay that ran thru the internets last year by a Knute Lombatton who purported to be a soldier in the Queen's Army and it was a very well turned bit of prose.
It popped up as an emailed reply on a rightwing blog, and ran thru right blogistan like wildfire.
A checked about a month later, and all of the original touting blogs (the ones where it had launched as a "You've gotta read this patriotic message!" post) had vanished.
Now whether or not he ever existed, the question remains: without much financial backing, consider how easy would it be to stand up a half-dozen blogs in a "community" under fake names for a few weeks..."leak" stories, "news", op-eds and slander, and then vanish as your memes become part the the lore and accepted wisdom of friendly, real sites.
I've witnessed people getting really upset because Carl Nyberg gave them a '3' rating on dKos... but this is ridiculous.
He looks like a 1960's-style liberal activist freak, And probably has the hygiene of Ted Nugent in the late 1960's.
It's a shame that it has come to this: That we're already strategizing having to disseminate the news and the truth like samizdat. Which is what will happen to a still-unknown degree if the FEC (Federal Elections Commission) has its way with its current push re: Internet campaign financing.
The FEC isn't the speech police, as one high-ranking member said, and its focus ought, instead, be on campaign finance. But consider that last year alone $14,000,000 was blown on campaign ads on the Internet. Naturally, this is going to act as a wet blanket to anyone with a political blog and, as with Section 215 of the Patriot Act, we'll wind up censoring ourselves, which would be the ultimate victory for the GOP in its ongoing war against the Bill of Rights.
Then there's Jean fucking Schmidt to worry about...
The line keeps moving Driftglass....
And Richard Roeper eats shit like the ones posted above, A few steps back.
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