Libel 2

 

While the Internet is in Canada unregulated by the government , the Police  and the courts still do regulate internet abuse. Of specific interest was the  continual ongoing consistency of deformation of character, personal attacks,  Libel, slander, bullying, the invasion of privacy too.

CP    VANCOUVER – A B.C. Supreme Court judge has awarded an Australian man  $180,000 for being the brunt of an Internet tirade conducted by a Nanaimo,  B.C., man.  The case involved the thorny question of how to crack down on  the lawlessness of online libel and slander.  Justice Douglas Halfyard  concluded defamatory statements along with the worldwide exposure of Robert  Griffin’s identity had serious and adverse effects on Griffin’s life and  mental health.  In his judgment, Halfyard found Patrick Sullivan responsible  for publishing four years of false and defamatory statements accusing “that  the plaintiff is a stalker, abuser, harasser, criminal, evil, liar, killer,  sexual predator, pervert, pedophile, coward, manipulator and hate monger who  threatens others with death and violence … and deserves to be jailed and  killed.”  Griffin’s lawyer Dan Burnett said most people don’t have the money  or stamina to fight against those kind of relentless Internet accusations.  “He felt it had to stop and the only way it was going to stop was to do what  he did which was commence the action and seek damages and seek an injunction  and essentially stand up to the bully.”  Burnett said the court award and  subsequent injunction stopping Sullivan from writing anything more about his  client is a warning to other Internet users.  “It illustrates that there is  a line, that when crossed, puts you into court and is a breach of the law.”  The whole situation started with postings on the Internet suicide website  ASH, in which participants discuss suicide and depression.  Griffin became  embroiled in a vicious dispute with several of the members of ASH, including  Sullivan.  The situation escalated when Sullivan published personal  information, such as Griffin’s age, his real name and the fact he lived in  Sydney, Australia. Griffin had been using the name Magnus Pym.  “I have  found that the defendant was, in many instances, indifferent to the truth of  the statements he was making,” Halfyard wrote of Sullivan.  “That is malice  and that is an aggravating factor.”  Included in the $180,000 award is  $50,000 for aggravated damages because Halfyard said the facts “demonstrate  that the defendant was motivated by an unjustifiable intention to injure the  plaintiff.”  Griffin has also been awarded $25,000 for breach of his privacy   and almost $5,000 for expenses which included psychological treatment and  counselling, and payment for interpreting services required to investigate postings on the Internet in Russia.  Sullivan, who acted as his own lawyer,  claimed some of the accusations were true, he raised the defence of fair  comment and also denied making some of the statements.  Sullivan could not  be reached for comment.  Halfyard didn’t agree with the arguments.  “The  defendant failed to prove that any of his many other defamatory statements  about the plaintiff were true. The defence of justification fails.”  Burnett  said the sweeping injunction is especially significant because it forces  Sullivan to stop referring in any way to Griffin and to remove all of his  ranting from the Internet.  “That’s in an Internet world where we think of  things going up and being irretrievable. If you’re the person putting it up  and you have the means to take it down the court might order you to do  that.”  http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080717/national/internet_defamation

 https://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/06/27/libel/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2008/08/09/libel-on-the-net/

Now I have posted various messages on different subjects on my 4 wordpress sites.
http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/  
http://anyonecare.wordpress.com/
https://postedat.wordpress.com/
http://thefocusonthefamily.wordpress.com/

I find it also still unbelievable that the top 5 topics from many different subjects read by many  are
1- The bad Bell Sympatico internet services
2 – How to deal with an alcoholic.
3 – How to deal with verbal abusers, bullies
4 – How to deal with the silent abuse treatment by others
5 – Bad pastors and bad Churches