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Fri, 30 Jun 1995 08:49:15 +0200 |
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Message of Thu, 29 Jun 1995 23:51:53 -0700 from LISTSERV list
owners' forum < [log in to unmask]> |
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Well, if the kook does actually turn out not to be full of hot air and
starts talking to lawyers seriously about a suit, the conversation is
likely to go as follows:
Lawyer: I think we want to sue the university, because they have deeper
pockets.
Kook: NO WAY! I want to sue that *beep* personally! Sue her till she's
got no *beep* roof to sleep under!!!
Lawyer: All right Mr. Kook. I should warn you however that I estimate
that my fees and related expenses for this lawsuit will be
between $50,000 and $100,000. Are you prepared to expend this sum
out of your private funds?
Kook: Uh...
Lawyer: Well, in that case Mr. Kook, I propose that we follow my original
suggestion and press charges against the university.
But, of course, lawyers not being stupid, I doubt that the lawyer will
agree to sue in the first place. This would be at best a long lawsuit
since there is no clear-cut case. He would need to ask for 7 figures to
make it worth his while. I'm no expert but can one really ask that much
for that kind of stuff? There was no tangible damage after all.
I think this nonsense will go on until a Kook does the same thing to a
corporate-run list. Corporations are not nice and have more lawyers than
university. If I were the CEO of a company with half a dozen on staff
lawyers and Mr. Kook threatened to sue on bogus grounds just so we would
allow him to post some rubbish to one of our product lists, and went
around doing all the things Anita mentioned, I would simply put a lawyer
on his back for the sake of establishing a precedent for the common good.
Lawyers and judges may not understand the network, but they understand,
say, libel. Somehow they understand that this electronic stuff you type
is read by people. Ok, so in the worst case it might not be libel, but
slander is good enough. I wish the EFF understood that freedom of speech
works both ways (ie includes the freedom to prevent idiots from polluting
your private discussion group) and did just that. They have a big legal
fund after all and lawyers who understand the Internet very well.
Eric
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