On Thu, 6 Apr 1995 12:47:59 -0700 you said:
>     A problem user who has been booted off my lists, and evicted from
>another, has chosen to basically spam all the related lists he can find by
>CCing all of them. He was replying to one person, and CCed about 15 other
>lists with his comments. As a result, all the people replying to him have also
>sent it to all those lists (rather like a chain letter).
>      His latest tirade attacks me by name and is trying (I guess) to hurt my
>reputation on those lists that I am not even subscribed to. It is not his
>comments that I object to at this point (well, it sort of is, but's that's
>another problem), it is that I object to having to delete his comments and all
>the other people's comments three or four times over. For crying out loud, he
>is even sending comments to the Anthropology librarian's list!
>      Is there any way of dealing with nonsense like this? I realize that it
>is up to the listowners of each list to do something. Is there any precendents
>for dealing with a problem user like this?
>
 
I had somewhat the same problem on one of my lists and I was
informed by counsel that since the poster was attempting to
damage my professional reputation, it was actionable.
     Notes and telephone conversations between lawyers at
my university and the site where the list is located, the
university of the poster, and that states Attorney General seems
to have had a calming effect.
     Unlike digital copyright, libel and defamation is fairly
well defined whether online or in print.  There is case law
(in the U. S) to support this.  (Let's see--could you take him
to court in the U. K. where "innuendo" is enough to trigger
action?)
     A couple of comments:
     I found out the university is obligated to come to my
defense in a case like this.
     There was no problem of who "really" sent the messages, since
he had already done this on other lists and his university
and department (he is a "student") was acquainted with his
behavior.
     Every party in the "chain" who permitted this to happen
over a period of time is open to legal action, inc. the
provider.
     In this particular case, the provider was the university
and I'm assuming they felt they *would* be open to legal
challenge if they just stopped his access.  Perhaps concerted
action by the other unversities gave the systems people the
ammunition they needed.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------
Elliott Parker                   Bitnet: 3ZLUFUR@CMUVM
List Owner, SEASIA-L and NPPA-L  Internet: [log in to unmask]
Department of Journalism         Less certain possibilities:
Central Michigan University         [log in to unmask]
Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859 USA          CompuServe: 70701,520
Office tele: +1 517 774 3196        The WELL: [log in to unmask]