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Pro Golfer Sues over Defamatory Wikipedia Posting
Fuzzy Zoeller, a senior professional golfer, has launched a libel suit against a Miami-based educational consulting firm respecting a Wikipedia article about him. The lawsuit is proceeding on the basis that the defamatory amendments made to the article emanated from the firm’s IP address. These amendments, which were removed, stated that Mr. Zoeller abused his family, and has had alcohol and drug problems.
Mr. Zoeller is precluded from naming Wikipedia itself in the lawsuit because of the Federal Communications Decency Act, which says that no provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.
There are two major issues which may impact on the success of the lawsuit. First, even if an employee of the consulting firm did post the comments, it is very likely to be an independent act rather than something sanctioned by the firm or done with the firm’s knowledge. On that basis, a liability finding against the firm is unlikely. Second, due to the proliferation of “malware” and Trojan horse software, it could be that a computer in the firm’s network has been hijacked for the purposes of Internet malfeasance. If this is the case, it may be that the hostile person posting these comments may be beyond the reach of the legal system.
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