I wrote to people at the addresses used when making the comments. One person replied, but that person had posted a different (critical but not defamatory) comment.
After I had no response from several different email addresses all of which come from the same IP address (seems like an iPhone), I've decided to remove the posts.
Debbie C 2010/03/18 at 7:17 pm
Anne Waldon 2010/03/29 at 9:11 pm
DWE 2010/04/13 at 8:23 pm
EddieBauer 2010/04/16 at 8:38 pm
Eduard 2010/05/05 at 9:03 pm
KNC 2010/05/05 at 9:06 pm
MarkS 2010/05/31 at 6:02 pm
Candy 2010/06/22 at 11:30 pm
CandyJS 2010/06/24 at 10:26 pm.
For other people's future education with regard to defamation claims, Wordpress.com points to the EFF web site which has the following guidelines.
The elements that must be proved to establish defamation are:
- a publication to one other than the person defamed;
- a false statement of fact;
- that is understood as
- a. being of and concerning the plaintiff; and
- b. tending to harm the reputation of plaintiff.
- If the plaintiff is a public figure, he or she must also prove actual malice.
What was missing in the case of the comments on my blog was any evidence to show that the supposed fact was factual.
So it does seem like a valid defamation case. I've removed those comments (possibly from one person pretending to be multiple people) which claimed as fact that James Smith was having an affair, let the lawyers know, and have copied the Wordpress Help department so they are in the loop.
I do not intend at this time to release the IP address unless compelled by law. Would I go to jail to avoid releasing it? Possibly. I still regard your privacy on this blog as something I will fight to preserve.
From now on, I'll have to be sure that people who post potentially defamatory remarks are also posting their evidence that the facts they post are factual? Even the "factual" defense may be falling away if there is malice according to a past post I just found on my own blog.
Google faced this kind of lawsuit and lost. Google has had to reveal the IP of anonymous bloggers. See this and this. If Google caved, I think the owners of Wordpress--Automattic, Inc.--would too. I think they have the same records I do regarding this blog, but I can't be certain.
4 comments:
Maybe I am being dense, but where is the defamation?
The claim of defamation is that someone is stating as fact that James Smith and Kari M are having an extramarital affair and that James Smith is suffering financially and mentally from the attack on his reputation. Something like that.
Xeno, please, don't show so much concern: "Something like that." Funny!
Are the people you mentioned so insecure with themselves and the loyalty and faithfulness of their admirers and followers that they need to take legal action? Wow, what if Obama or any other person in scrutiny of the critical public did the same? They'd need a team of lawyers working for them 24/7. It seems to me criticism, however well-founded, is just part of being in the public's eye.
It is very important to the people involved, but I'm just not wildly interested in people's affairs.
I value being honest with and faithful to my girlfriend--even when she's away for a month, cut off from all human contact in a meditation retreat, as she is now.
Fidelity is more advantageous in the long run; I'm faithful not because I'm pleasing a god or because a bible tells me, or even because I am in love. I am faithful because I remember the pain of having an unfaithful lover. I was miserable. I couldn't sleep for three days. It was a good lesson. I will not do that to someone else.
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