Tweet This: You are being sued!

by Mary Richard | May 2, 2009 at 10:40 pm
313 views | 95 Recommendations | 10 comments

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"{{ TWITTER AMBER ALERT !! }} " : Missing girl's father seeks help through Twitter

"{{ TWITTER AMBER ALERT !! }} " : Missing girl's father seeks help through Twitter

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Can you defame someone in 140 characters or less? 

Apparently so, according to designer Dawn Simorangkir, who has alleged that eccentic rocker Courtney Love has started a smear campaign against her on Twitter and MySpace. 

In the case of the first lawsuit, notorious rocker Courtney Love is being sued by designer Dawn Simorangkir, also known as Boudoir Queen, who alleges Ms. Love made defamatory comments about her in a tweet.
This marks the first libel suit against a Twitter user, and joins a growing number of lawsuits against bloggers and social network users.
A year ago, blog lawsuits were a novelty, but they have been growing quickly. And so have the resulting awards - one as high as US$12.5-million. "The Internet was the Wild West, but now the sheriffs are coming in," Mr. Eric Robinson of Media Law group says.
The question here is, even in such an impersonal setting as the internet, are you watching your Ps and Qs?  And if not, do you have personal liability insurance that covers your internet blogging?

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1
Samir Joshi

Another example of technology catching up!

2
tikun

This is worth watching.

2
Amy Judd

I think things can be misinterpreted on the internet so easily - people will think you are talking about them when in fact you may be speaking about something totally harmless..

1
Uwe Paschen

I agree with you Amy, the body languish is missing and there for things can get across the wrong way. 

2
Mary Richard

I'm with you on this one, Amy.  Without face to face contact and mannerisms, many, many things can easily get misconstrued over the internet. 

We're just starting to realize now, exactly how important body language really is, now that we have to learn to overcompensate for the lack of it, with words, over the internet.


1
tikun

On the other hand. What about when you criticize someone or action? Are you liable?

1
Mary Richard

Yes, certainly.  I think we'll find this more so in the future, the need for stating such.

Than there's those people that are out and out slandering others and stealing identities...

2
158

Good story on an in teresting subject.

1
A. Tran

I agree that body language and facial expressions are important to communication, i..e tongue-in-cheek comments could easily be misinterpreted.

1
Yuliya Talmazan

This is definitely setting the precedent. Thanks for reporting, Blue Crush.

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Samir Joshi
First Flagged at 11:26 PM, May 2, 2009 by Samir Joshi
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