Cyber Libel

Think twice before you hit that publish button.   The internet is not anonymous.  What if that was you?

Maybe you should not say it.

I’ve seen a few posts this week where people have crossed the line with some nasty statements…some libelous content.

I wrestled with whether or not to link to that content in this post and chose the latter because I would only be amplifying the situation.

Instead, I decided to just write about it.

After a quick call to a good friend who is an excellent lawyer, I learned there is a term for defamation online and it’s called Cyber Libel when something nasty is written about another person.

He also told me the courts are still struggling with consistency in decision making on Cyber Libel because web pages can change quickly, jurisdictional issues or it happens in a “chat room”. Also, the burden of proof is in many ways more difficult than something printed in, say, a newspaper.

A simple screen shot is virtually worthless as evidence.

Anyway, according to my legal eagle pal “Cyber Libel” is properly defined as:

“maliciously written words which are intended to blacken a person’s reputation or expose them to public hatred, contempt or ridicule, or injure them in their business or profession.”

And what I read online this week definitely fell into that category.  At the end of the day, the Golden Rule - do unto others…

…still applies on the web.  Maybe even more so.

I know that some people will never learn to play nice.  While I’m not suggesting that we get into limiting our freedoms of speech, my thinking here on libelous content remains simple:

If you wouldn’t want someone saying it about you, don’t put it on the web.

Do you agree?