lecture 6: defamation

Defamation is another legal area around which you must tread very carefully. The Net is a common place to air grievances, because it makes a publications medium available to those who might be unable to air them any other way. But if using it in this manner, whether seriously or not, be very aware of the laws of defamation (more specifically libel, or written defamation - spoken defamation is slander).

Under UK law, statements can be considered defamatory if:

• they have been published - so placing them on a web page fulfils this criterion
• they identify a specific person
• they are likely to damage that person's reputation in the minds of "right-thinking" readers
• and - most importantly - they are untrue.

What this comes down to is, don't use your web site to tell malicious lies about people. As ever, this is sometimes a grey area - as suggested by the existence of sites like http://www.mcspotlight.org/, for example (note the "Will they sue us?" online poll). Plenty of tabloid-style gossip columns and the like also tread close to the edge. But remember that what you think is a bit of harmless satire may well not be seen as such by the target of that satire. Tread carefully.

Note well some important qualifiers to these rules:

• republishing defamatory statements made by others still counts as defamation, so don't go round repeating unsubstantiated rumours on your site
• images can be defamatory as well as text, so think twice before using that Photoshop picture of your old headmaster and the sheep which you and some mates knocked up in A-level IT class
• concealed messages in the code of a page count too
• links can also be defamatory if they imply connections between individuals and defamatory statements even if the connection is only made by the existence of the link.

There is some more information in chapter 6 of the printed course booklet although to be honest all the key points are noted above. If you are in any doubt, either avoid publishing the page altogether or, if you can afford it, get legal advice first. I don't want to discourage people from posting satirical sites, but nor do I want to see anyone get sued unnecessarily.