Instructions: The growth of Internet Web logs (blogs), chat rooms, and individual Web sites have expanded the number of forums through which many people exchange information and express their opinions. While the Internet has expanded freedom of expression in this way, it has also provided a medium through which many incidents of defamation have been raised.

Click on the first link below and read the article regarding online defamation and its relation to US law, provided by the South African law firm of Sonnenberg Hoffman & Galombik, and answer questions 1-5.

Next, go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation's "Bloggers' FAQ Online Defamation Law"page, read the page, and answer questions 6-9.

Lastly, click on the third URL above to a summary of significant cases regarding online defamation provided by the law firm of Phillips Nizer. Read the summary of three of these cases, and answer question 10.

Visit URL:

Legal Net http://www.legalnet.co.za/cyberlaw/cybertext/chapter12.htm (Links to an external site.) Eff.org https://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/defamation (Links to an external site.) Internet Library http://www.internetlibrary.com/topics/online_defamation.cfm (Links to an external site.)

Answer the following questions:

q1. What features distinguish the Internet from other publishing mediums that have led to the re-examination of the existing rules of defamation?

q2. Whether a party is characterized as a publisher is largely dependent on what?

q3. In the Cubby case, in what way did the court compare an Internet service provider (ISP) to a library, book store, or news stand?

q4. In the Prodigy case, the court concluded that Prodigy was a publisher while in the Cubby case, CompuServe was not considered a publisher. The distinction between these two ISPs was made in the Prodigy case based on what two grounds?

q5. In the Zeran case, America Online, Inc. was protected from liability for defamation as a result of what congressional act?

q6. What four elements must be proven to establish defamation?

q7. Explain the different standards for defamation when reporting on a public figure versus a private figure. How is a public figure defined? q8. What are some examples of libelous and nonlibelous statements? What is the general distinction that determines whether a statement libelous or not?

q9. What are some examples given for "libel per se"?

q10. Summarize the court's rulings in three of the cases you chose.