[thechat] Internet Makes Dow Jones Open to Suit in Australia

Luther, Ron Ron.Luther at hp.com
Thu Dec 12 13:01:01 CST 2002


Hi Madhu,

I saw that suit mentioned somewhere else the other day and thought it
was pretty interesting as well ... especially since it leads to *so*
much potential for abuse!   ;-)

I doubt you could be extradited and shipped 'down under' ... but you
might end up with an open warrant against you which could prevent
you from traveling there in the future. (I'm thinking kinda like
coach Bobby Knight not traveling back to Puerto Rico after they tried
for eight years to extradite him before giving up I think in 1987.)

I'm thinking that this has to get slapped down ... mostly because too
much corporate money is at stake.  It also strikes me as another kind
of 'jackpot justice' ... suing folks in the hope of landing out-of-court
for cash settlements.

But _Man_, the possibilities if this is upheld and spreads to other
countries!   ;-)

(a) Imagine Green Peace teaming up with some radical faction of the ACLU
to have members around the world find alleged insults on the websites of
'polluting' or 'non-green' companies and filing lawsuits.

(b) Imagine several million Chinese suing you because they object that
all their bases now belong to you.

(c) Imagine ...

Ooops ... gotta run!

Later!


RonL.

-----Original Message-----
From: Madhu Menon [mailto:webguru at vsnl.net]

The Australian High Court ruled yesterday that a local businessman could
bring a libel action against Dow Jones & Company in a local court, a
decision that reignited publishers' fears that posting material on Web
sites could leave them open to libel prosecution in any country with
Internet access.



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