more on Private High School Sues Wikipedia

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Paul Levy <plevy () citizen org>
Date: July 25, 2006 12:31:39 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net, ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [IP] more on Private High School Sues Wikipedia

One might wonder whether the posting, although certainly mean, is  
actionable as libel.  The negative statements cited in the article  
are highly rhetorical which is a hallmark of nonactionable opinion,  
rather than actionable statements of fact.  Tuition  is"ridiculously  
high";  education is "awful"; too much attention to sports; and  
students are "complete idiots."

In that regard, one of my colleagues noted that Skutt HS actually has  
a trapshooting team among its athletic options.  http:// 
www.geocities.com/skyhawktrap/


Paul Alan Levy
Public Citizen Litigation Group
1600 - 20th Street, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20009
(202) 588-1000
http://www.citizen.org/litigation

> > > David Farber <dave () farber net> 7/25/2006 11:01 AM >>>


Begin forwarded message:

From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall () gmail com>
Date: July 25, 2006 10:42:43 AM EDT
To: Mike Masnick <mike () techdirt com>
Cc: dave () farber net, Michael Geist <mgeist () pobox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Private High School Sues Wikipedia
Reply-To: joehall () pobox com

On 7/25/06, Mike Masnick <mike () techdirt com> wrote:
> At 01:50 PM 7/24/2006 -0400, you wrote:
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > From: Joseph Lorenzo Hall <joehall () gmail com>
> > Date: July 24, 2006 1:38:18 PM EDT
> > To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> > Subject: Private High School Sues Wikipedia
> > Reply-To: joehall () pobox com
> >
> > (From Michael Geist's ILN)
> >
> > NEBRASKA SCHOOL SUES WIKIPEDIA OVER POSTING
>
>
> The headline is false.  While the original article linked to in the
> email
> has disappeared, when it was up, it never said that the school sued
> Wikipedia.  Instead, it sued the anonymous John and Jane Doe who
> made edits
> to the Wikipedia page.  In other words, they sued those who made the
> statements, not Wikipedia itself.  It's an important distinction.

That's a very good point... I'll CC Michael Geist on this (who
presumably wrote the headline). The text of the article is copied
below. -Joe

> Of course, that doesn't mean the lawsuit is necessarily a smart
> move.  In
> my own discussion of it, I present some thoughts on why they would
> have
> been much better off simply removing the vandalism and keeping
> quiet about it:
>
> http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20060724/0348214.shtml
>
> Mike

Hi Dave, it appears that the link above is no longer working.  Here's
the story:

Catholic high school sues over Wikipedia posting

OMAHA Neb. (The Associated Press State & Local Wire)-- Skutt Catholic
High School has filed a lawsuit over an edit posting on Wikipedia, the
online, publicly compiled encyclopedia.

School administrators take a dim view of these and other lines about
the school:

"It's (sic) tuition is ridiculously high, too. Not to mention you get
an awful education there. They put more emphasis on sports than they
do education. No wonder almost all kids there are complete idiots."

That opinion showed up in June on http://www.wikipedia.org. And Skutt
officials say there have been three other objectionable entries since
February. They include sharp criticism of Skutt principal Patrick
Slattery, obscene language and a note about drug use by students.

Since Wikipedia debuted in 2001, it has grown to 2 1/2 million entries
in 10 languages.

Thousands of changes are made every hour to Wikipedia items, and
contributors are charged with editing themselves and others. All
viewers need do to change an entry is click "edit this page" and do
so.

Skutt officials can't tell who posted the entries they've zeroed in
on, so the Douglas County District Court suit names a John and Jane
Doe.

The Internet addresses belong to Cox Communications, and a spokeswoman
said the company intends to comply with a subpoena for the names of
the posters.

Whether the Skutt lawsuit prevails is uncertain as the law sorts out
the inherent conflict between free speech and damaging opinion in the
usually anonymous realm of cyberspace.

"The law is a mixed bag right now," said John Seigenthaler, a retired
journalist and founder of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt
University in Nashville, Tenn. "I can understand how anybody feels
pain, but it's still a very difficult row to hoe."

Seigenthaler said it took months to get statements about him removed
from a Wikipedia page.

The Skutt lawsuit says it has suffered general damages that would be
determined at trial.

"These particular edits were really harmful and mean-spirited," said
Patrick Flood, a lawyer for Skutt.

Once Skutt officials find out who posted the entries and why, they
will proceed accordingly, he said.

Federal law protects online service providers.

"They are just the vehicle" for other people's information, said Lucy
Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of
the Press. "Basically, the more control you have (over the
information), the more risk you have."

On its site, Wikipedia tells users that "it is a valuable resource and
provides a good reference point." But, it says, "unfamiliar
information should be checked before relying upon it."

Inappropriate comments sometimes are removed, said Wikipedia founder
Jimmy Wales in an e-mail interview with the Omaha World-Herald.

He said such postings are rare, and wondered why Skutt officials
hadn't contacted him.

Attempts to reach Skutt officials and their lawyer Saturday were
unsuccessful.


(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is
distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior
interest in receiving the included information for research and
educational purposes.)


--
Joseph Lorenzo Hall
PhD Student, UC Berkeley, School of Information
<http://josephhall.org/>


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