Cyberlibel Damages Awarded In Canada

mszeto writes "The Globe And Mail is reporting that an Ontario judge has awarded an archaeologist 125k$ in damages after someone smeared her using email. According to the lawyer: 'People seem to think there is a level of anonymity to e-mail and the Internet. And that it's a lawless area. And clearly it is not, nor should it be.'"

Comments

I don't see how you can stop this

[Omniscientist]

I do not see how you can prevent someone forging an SMTP address. Its pretty easy, and any idiot can do it. Its as easy as just putting in someone elses email address in the Reply To Address field.

Of course then it'll list your true identity or IP in the header, but its not like most people who are just browsing around look at an email and question its validity. They'll see the email address and be like, ooh, I hate that guy now.
The only way we can stop that extremely easy method of identity theft is to change every single mail service to automatically use the same address for the Reply To that's being used as the incoming email address. Ain't going to happen anytime soon...but hey I hope someone defames my name around the internet so I can get a couple grand in damages :). Of course its deserved if it damages your professional reputation, but I got nothing professional about me, so defame away!