I think that there are bases for lawsuits of a specific nature which
probably work against the kooks. If you repeatedly committed acts of
intimidation, you might have problems or if there was proof of bad
faith or perhaps you used the net as an illegal means for obstructing
justice and human rights. These all seem to be covered by the Senate
document, but it would seem not to favour the kooks, but to work
against them as you would have to keep records which corrobated each
other. I thinking that if you look at property rights laws and laws
about stalking or harrassment, and of course damage by libel or
copyright violation you will find out what you cannot do without being
sued, but it does not seem likely that anyone would engage in such
activities. If you lost job or reputation because of defamation of
character on the internet you would have cause for a suit, but that
seems to apply to your kook. It is much more likely that governments
and organizations which use the net for illegal practices like
intimidation or human rights violating propaganda would be the first
targets of lawsuits. After all, the victims will for the first time in
history have timed and dated records of events they could never prove
beyond a shadow of a doubt took place before. You cannot use the
internet like you can verbal abuse as it can always be traced with
ewnough persistence. I think that loss of job, income, reputation and
freedom as a result internet messages will be the first big lawsuits.
The only advantage the victims have is that it will not be your word
against theirs but just a case of producing the offending document for
the first time in history. You could do exactly the same thing with a
tape recorder or use both if the problem is acute. I think the ciil
liberties issue is going to be the same here as it always was and you
will have the same old offenders. Plan on using a lot of money anyway
fifty to hundred thousand minimum maybe up to a million. That's cheap
if your buying freedom and damages from years of intimidation and
persecution such as is the case for human rights cases but if you are
just fooling around forget it.  -- Paul.
--
 
Dr. Paul S. di Virgilio,  University of Toronto  [log in to unmask]