On Sun, 4 Jan 1998 Betty Harris <[log in to unmask]> asked for more
details on what I had posted about events on Anthro-l which led to our
developing stronger rules for subscribers...

>> subsequently set legal precedent by being successfully sued for
>> electronic defamation...
> Really.  In which country?  Could you give us an overview of what
> happened?

A gent by the name of Gil Hardwick from Australia was posting quite nasty
comments which bordered on ad hominem attacks. He obviously had a personal
and "poloitical" aggendae, as well as just generally being an abrasive
type. When I asked him privately as the listowner to be more polite (NOT
to necessarily curtail his comments), he responded with extreme abuse. So
we decided to evict him.  The legal case related mostly to defamatory
remarks he made about Dr. David Rindos, an archaeologist who was at the
University of Western Australia (see
http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/~hjarvis/rindos.html and more specifically,
http://wings.buffalo.edu/anthropology/Rindos/Law/law-m.html#Hardwick ).

Hope this helps,

        Hugh Jarvis
        Co-owner, Anthro-l