Every one ,from Mr Average Joe to Prime Minister and King,can
defend his/her name.
Gopalan Nair said he could write anythings in USA.I suggest he
read this.
@@@@@@@@@@@@
Woman jailed over Anna Nicole blog 'slurs'
A WOMAN who commented on a blog about Anna Nicole Smith has been
jailed for contempt last week in a defamation case.
http://www.news.com.au/technology/story/0,28348,25568166-5014239,00.html
From correspondents in Houston, Texas
Agence France-Presse
June 01, 2009 12:51pm
BOQ
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Legal experts said bloggers are increasingly the targets of such
litigation, which are testing the bounds of free speech.
Lyndal Harrington, who is accused of helping to spread
falsehoods that Smith's mother Virgie Arthur married her stepbrother and abused Smith
as a child, spent four nights in jail after she failed to comply
with a court order to turn over her computer.
The 53-year-old grandmother claimed her computer was stolen
during a burglary less than a week after it was subpoenaed.
A police officer testified that he believed the theft was staged
and judge Tony Lindsay ordered Harrington to produce the
computer by July 2 or she will again face incarceration.
Harrington says she is shocked that she is being sued for
comments posted on someone else's blog to pass the time.
"I just voiced my opinion," said Lyndal Harrington of her posts about Smith and Arthur
on the website Rose Speaks.
Like many bloggers, Harrington doesn't consider herself a publisher and
did not realise she could be held liable for her posts.
"I got into this because my business had fallen apart in this
economy and it was something to do," she said.
"I developed a lot of friendships with women who are retired or
ill at home."
Three other bloggers are named in the suit along with Smith's
former companion, Howard K. Stern, and Larry Birkhead, the father
of her daughter, Dannielynn.
Ms Arthur alleges that the defendants conspired to defame her so
she wouldn't get custody of Dannielynn, who could inherit up to
$US88m ($109.59m).
"Lyndall Harrington is a liar who faked a burglary," said Neil
McCabe who represents Ms Arthur.
"She's part of a conspiracy to defame my client and she's done
her own defaming of my client."
Lawsuits against bloggers in the US have been doubling every
year since 2004 with $US15m ($18.68m) in judgments so far against
them, according to Robert Cox, president of the Media Bloggers
Association.'' EOQ
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