Be careful what you post online

By WES KAPPELMAN

OSKALOOSA — The Internet has allowed information, libelous and otherwise, to travel across the United States.

This can open up blog and message board posters to lawsuits from someone in a different state.

Iowa chapter 659, which deals with libel and slander, does not make an explicit reference to postings on online blogs or message boards, but they may still apply as defamation.

If someone anonymously posts something that is considered defamatory towards someone else, some one company can subpoena the Internet service provider to obtain that person’s information.

Frank Hansen, MCG general manager, explained how MCG keeps customer information private.

“We protect everything,” Hansen said. “We don’t give out information, except to the customer.”

In subpoenas, Hansen said he confers with legal council on how to proceed. Each incident is handled individually, Hansen said.

There have been several other states where people have been sued for comments online.

In Allegheny Energy v. John Doe, a Pennsylvania company hired a law firm that was able to subpoena an Internet service provider to obtain the poster’s identity.

In another case, Doe v. 2TheMart.com, a subpoena to reveal the defendant’s name was thrown out after the ISP contacted the user, who then challenged the subpoena.

If a poster is identifiable, it makes it easier for someone to proceed with defamation charges.

In Florida, oral arguments are beginning soon for an appeal to one such case. Sue Scheff, founder of Parents’ Universal Resource Experts, was awarded $11.3 million against Carey Bock, a woman from Louisiana.

Bock had posted at an online site that Scheff was a crook. Scheff later sued for defamation. In September of 2006, $11.3 million was awarded to Sue Scheff in a Florida court. Both women have blogs that tell their side of what led up to the judgment.

Thomas McGowan, Bock’s lawyer, said the two had met after Bock’s ex-husband sent two of Bock’s sons to a boarding school in Costa Rica. Bock contacted Scheff, who helped Bock retrieve her son.

Bock later became angry at Scheff because Bock believed that while Scheff is against some “boot camps” she promotes others. Then she began posting comments about Scheff online.

During the suit, personal problems, including having her home flooded by Hurricane Katrina, combined with her lawyer dropping from the case led Bock to not be able to return messages from Scheff’s lawyer, so she was not able to appear in court, McGowan said.

This helped lead to the $11.3 million that was later ruled against Bock. In the appeal, McGowan will argue that Bock has excusable neglect for not showing up in court. During the time of the proceedings, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans forced her out of her home, Bock cared for a sick father and one of Bock’s sons deployed to Iraq. Another issue is whether Scheff should have been considered a public figure, which would make defamation harder to prove.

The best defense for libel, over any medium, is to be able to prove the statements are true.

The Web site for Electronic Frontier Foundation has some advice for bloggers to avoid defamation suits.

Part of the requirements for defamation is that the statement is published to a person other than the person defamed, the statement is false, and that the statement can be understood to be about the plaintiff.

EFF advises at its Bloggers’ FAQ on Online Defamation Law that although truth is an absolute defense against a defamation suit, it can be hard and expensive to prove. More information can be found in EFF’s Web site.

Herald Staff Writer Wes Kappelman can be reached by e-mail at news2@oskyherald.com

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