MN Supreme Court Rules In Internet Libel Case

MrSparkle writes: "In a first-of-its-kind case in Minnesota, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday the Internet shouldn't be treated differently than other media in out-of-state libel cases. WCCO has the story."

Comments

Re:could be good or bad

[dirk]

ut could this mean that newsgroup posts will be treated more as a formal publications than a public conversation? we should be able to say more in public at the mall or in a newsgroup than we can publish in the local paper.

Posting on the internet is more akin to publishing in a newspaper than to talking in a mall. The big difference is the intent to publish. If you are talking to another person in a mall, you know other people may here you, but your intent is to talk to the other person in the conversation. If you publish something in a newspaper, your intent is for anyone who picks up that publication to read it (i.e. wide distribution).

Writing on a newsgroup is much closer to publishing in a newspaper. Your intent is to have everyone who reads the newsgroup to read your post. This "conversation" is more like two people having a conversation by sending letters to the editor of a newspaper and having them published. The other people aren't "listening in" to your conversations, you are publishing your conversation for everyone to read.