[kall]

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news...&w=RTR&coview=

A California lawyer who has waged an ongoing battle with Yahoo Inc. over personal attacks made against him on Yahoo message boards has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit against the company.

The suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday by associates of corporate attorney Stephen Galton, claims Yahoo has unfairly protected people who post negative messages on its bulletin boards and falsely advertised that it prevents such abusive messages.

Innnteresting.

As far as I know, NZs Privacy Act would probably protect the identity of the person posting the nasty messages, but I'm less clear on how the site itself would be legally affected.

One would assume that a site that allowed such harassment to occur despite being told about it would be liable for anything that came from it.

So, remember, if you are making serious complaints with regards to something you have seen on a messageboard (ANY messageboard), use the Contact Us link so that you have copies in your email. Don't just use the site's internal message system, because these could convieniently disappear/have a crash when the time comes for evidence purposes.

[Sparklechick]

WOW ... if that is the case then that other site is SCREWED !!!

[kall]

Yeah, well..to say that they actively discourage abusiveness, and then actually allow it, Yahoo (and anyone else, for that matter) have a lot to answer for.

[spongey]

Hmmmmm interesting.

I think i might be into some free money from the other sitre then,Considering i have emails from them saying that becouse im a banned member they wont protect me from abuse from other members.

Doesn't proper moderating a forum could have avoided that issue 100%?

It has always been a discussion what is legally who's responsibility with digital media, from copyright material to posts on a forum, how private are privmsgs and who owns what .. always hard.

It is the USA, so it doesn't suprise me you can even sue a message board

[kall]

We have an NZ dating site where the people who run it don't really have an active presence on the messageboard.

There is one Admin account that occasionally posts, several (maybe 3 or more) people use the account...or that was the way it was when I was there.

Some threads are removed, some aren't.

They have the theory that by having the Members Moderate the forums (by clicking a Report Post link), they will not be held to blame for anything that is posted.

A bit of a cop-out really, and unlikely to hold up in court (in fact, it has been tested at least once to my knowledge, and they failed to use it as a defence.)

[kathy31]

" its just not going to happen!"

As soon as a court decides that they have to pay out for people posting on public forums, it opens up a flood gate for every other internet forum, and lets face it , there are millions...

A public forum is exactly what it says and is....

No argument. ;o)

[kall]

From the vague details I remember: Somebody violated a court-imposed name suppression on the messageboards, therefore it was being published by the people who controlled the messageboards.

It was not removed, therefore the people who control the messageboards got to spend a day in court.

(This is the NZ example, by the way.)

[kall]

Originally Posted by spongey

Hmmmmm interesting.

I think i might be into some free money from the other sitre then,Considering i have emails from them saying that becouse im a banned member they wont protect me from abuse from other members.

Dude, if someone is slandering you on a messageboard, and you aren't allowed to defend yourself, that's even suckier than normal.

I'd look into getting it stopped legally if I were you.

[KJM7]

Originally Posted by kall

From the vague details I remember: Somebody violated a court-imposed name suppression on the messageboards, therefore it was being published by the people who controlled the messageboards.

It was not removed, therefore the people who control the messageboards got to spend a day in court.

(This is the NZ example, by the way.)

Well I will be extra care to not say anything too offensive.