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Conspiracy theorist filmmaker sues online forum for defamation

NoZed Avenger said:
Well, to add another data point: how many $1,000 lawsuits do you see written up in the press?

If you don't allege the big numbers, it gets shuffled out of the paper very quickly.
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Yes and for that reason, SETTLING does not count as a win. For him to win, and for me to pony up TEN prized Canadian Loonies, He must make it to court.

TAM;)
 
Some more on this case, or rather cases, with comment by a media lawyer.

Indie Defamation War: Nolan's discovery allowed, Smith's deferred

A series of court decisions has created an Australian first, with independent filmmaker Jonathan [Nolan] (Pisces All Media) being granted permission to view ISP records that could identify the people who made allegedly defamatory posts on the ZGeek and Filmnet websites.

[...]

Sonia Borella, IT and Media partner with Holding Redlich (who is not involved in the case) confirmed that Jonathan Nolan's ... discovery order, which will force the Internet Service Providers hosting the two websites to hand over records that could identify the individuals posting the comments, was an Australian (and possibly world) first. "I'm not aware of any case where that's happened in terms of the internet in Australia, the action is usually taken against the person with the deepest pockets," she said.

A similar case in the UK, in 2006, forced Yahoo! to disclose the identity of Tracey Williams, who was being sued by Michael Keith Smith. Smith won his case, making it the first time that a British court had awarded damages for comments posted on an internet bulletin board, Borella said.

The Nolan case is more extensive, because it is seeking to discover multiple identities, in addition to suing the publishers.

[...]

Sonia Borella said that general publication law distinguishes between "who is the publisher and who is the author," and allowed plaintiffs to sue both. "The same principle applies to traditional media and new media, and that's where we're heading," she said.

The role of internet service providers was unclear, however. "The liability of ISPs in relation to infringements of law are unclear at the moment," she said, noting that the copyright case against iiNet was also doing discovery at the moment, although not in a defamation context, with the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft seeking to establish the identity of users under pseudonyms.

While the iiNet case is being fought out between behemoths (Telstra is supporting iiNet with legal advice), the Filmnet and ZGeek cases involve minnows, but could be equally important in setting legal precedent on whether ISP's can protect customer's identities, and the legal responsibilities of forum moderators.
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Lisa Simpson said:
Since I know nothing about Australia's free speech laws, I will not take that wager.
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I think we don't actually have any laws regarding free speech here. It is taken for granted that we have a right to free speech, but as far as I know (not very far really) it isn't enshrined in law.

I await correction.
 
I propose we sue 4chan for just about every insipid internet meme we have to deal with.
 
It seems the same person has been involved in a questionable attempt to have an "astronaut contest"

http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sc...eality-show-hit-black-hole-20100412-s2z6.html

Edited to add:

Please be very careful what you say. As we have seen, this person has sued others for making statements on the internet regarding his activities.

I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the following link, but those interested may care to follow up on it:

http://echoesofapollo.com/2010/04/04/starwalker-show-the-international-scam/
 
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Should have been fairly obvious it was a scam attempt (and a bad one at that). My BOGOSITY! alarm started clanging immediately I read about the Facebook stuff and the frivolous law suit. It stayed on solid when "the Russians" and "Russian astronaut trip" appeared.

I suspect this chap has now fled Australia just steps ahead of someone nabbing him for attempted fraud.
 
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