According to an article by John Timmer, published to arstechnica, a judge has held against a publishing agent who filed a defamation lawsuit charging numerous people and entities, including Wikipedia with defamation. To save the day, the Communication Decency Act was brought into play by a New Jersey judge who "exempted Wikipedia from a defamation trial based on comments posted by its users." The Communication Decency Act contains provisions that protect websites from liability for user-generated content.
Timmer describes the case:
"The case was filed by a literary agent, Barbara Bauer, who apparently ran afoul of a small horde of Internet users . . . it seems likely her problems started when her name appeared on a list of the 20 Worst Literary Agents, hosted on the now-defunct site 20worstagents.com. According to accusations made there, Bauer was on the list because she'd inflated her credentials and never successfully closed a deal; she was also called a 'scam artist' and a 'con.'"
Other blogs picked up this discussion and exaggerated some of the terms used to describe Bauer. " Bauer quotes different blogs as referring to her as 'that lunatic.'" Eventually some of the statements about Bauer circulating on the web showed up in Wikipedia. This is how Wikipedia became a defendant in Bauer's lawsuit.
Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act says: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."
Timmer describes the case:
"The case was filed by a literary agent, Barbara Bauer, who apparently ran afoul of a small horde of Internet users . . . it seems likely her problems started when her name appeared on a list of the 20 Worst Literary Agents, hosted on the now-defunct site 20worstagents.com. According to accusations made there, Bauer was on the list because she'd inflated her credentials and never successfully closed a deal; she was also called a 'scam artist' and a 'con.'"
Other blogs picked up this discussion and exaggerated some of the terms used to describe Bauer. " Bauer quotes different blogs as referring to her as 'that lunatic.'" Eventually some of the statements about Bauer circulating on the web showed up in Wikipedia. This is how Wikipedia became a defendant in Bauer's lawsuit.
Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act says: "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."
Judge Jamie S. Perri of New Jersey's Superior Court dismissed all charges against Wikipedia. Timmer's full coverage of the issue can be found here.
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