EnviroLink Forum

http://technology.guardian.co.uk/news/s ... 44,00.html

Warning to chatroom users after libel award for man labelled a Nazi

· High court orders lecturer to pay £10,000 damages
· Lawyers say case confirms existing law applies on net

Owen Gibson, media correspondent
Thursday March 23, 2006
The Guardian


A political argument that erupted in a remote corner of cyberspace and descended into vicious name-calling could lead to a spate of libel actions by contributors to internet message boards, the man at the centre of the case claimed yesterday.

The dark side of the blogosphere was revealed by a libel action brought by Michael Keith-Smith, a former Conservative party member who stood for Ukip in Portsmouth North at the last election. He said he was moved to sue after a woman with whom he was debating the merits of military action in Iraq began a campaign of name-calling that started by describing him as "lard brain" and culminated in falsely labelling him a "Nazi", a "racist bigot" and a "nonce".

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With friends like Guido, you will not have enemies for long.

“Intellect is invisible to the man who has none”
Arthur Schopenhauer

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
Albert Einstein

If we start counting now we should be able to make a tidy little sum by the end of the year Seriously though, this answers our questions doesn't it? The same libel laws apply in cyberspace as elsewhere. Doesn't bother us anymore though - since we cleaned up our act.

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The wild Deer wand'ring here and there,
Keeps the Human Soul from Care.

From Auguries of Innocence, by Wiliam Blake (1757 -1827)

Has anyone been using the chat room here? I might have to get on some time.

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"Yes like I said it all boils down to morals. What you think is right doesn't make a person wrong because they think different " X-Black

Ok... I have finally fixed (and completely revamped) the chat room here. This should actually be a stable chatroom now and I would really like folks to try it out. There are a couple of fun features and it should work on everyone's computer, regardless of platform. Let me know what you think.

-josh

Uhh.. Meadow?Swamp?Forest? I'm confuzzled!

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I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. - Mother Theresa

Heh... those are different "rooms" in the chat area that you can go into. It is a throwback to an old chat system we used to have that had a whole bunch of rooms with those (and other) names.

-josh

Ok, I'm an idiot... I've fixed the code that appears at the top of every page on the system that says "There are X users on the EnviroChat right now... join in" so that the links there actually work. Try them and you can get to chat with folks here in real-time as well as posting messages to the boards.

That chat is only going to work if you participate!

-josh

I'm participating!

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I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish he didn't trust me so much. - Mother Theresa