[Rick Ace]

Soure: http://www.nj.com/rutgersfootball/index ... _boar.html

I'm surprised that this isn't considered world, national, or at least "tri-state" area news. I wouldn't have known about it without friends in NJ.

In summary, three forum users are being sued for their posts by a football player's wife for their posts on a forum. I should note that based on the news story, these posts don't even appear to be very harmful. However, they've led to a defamation lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims that Bendix, Burgardt and Foster each posted "false and defamatory statements" about Zeigler on the sports website CSNbbs.com while using the online pseudonyms "MajorHoople," "Chipdip2" and "DesertBronco," respectively.

False and defamatory statements? Obviously, this doesn't sound like any person was threatened by these comments. These users are being sued because the woman did not like the way posts sounded.

It is further clarified in the following statement.

"Defendants' publication of these false and defamatory statements was negligent and/or with reckless disregard of whether or not they were false," the lawsuit says.

Apparently, the main issue is that the statements were in "disregard" of their validity. Since when do forum posts have to be absolutely correct? What happened to freedom of speech?

I've heard of forum posters and bloggers being sued in various countries around the world. But I never did expect to see something like this in my own backyard.

And just when you think the worst is over, there's more shocking news.

The identifications of Bendix, Burgardt and Foster came after "diligent inquiry" that included seeking the defendants' addresses, email addresses, IP addresses and other information from the website, according to the lawsuit.

In case you didn't understand that, the users were identified because the legal system thought that the accusations were plausible.

It's a sad day for freedom of speech and privacy. And no one cares about it.

Edit: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr- ... 37266.html

Here's more information. And this is reportedly the topic in question:
http://csnbbs.com/thread-648369-page-115.html

It might go offline soon, and I bet a lot of the comments have been deleted. But take a look at what you can see.

Edit 2: And this is how the forum admin reacted.
http://csnbbs.com/thread-648369-post-11 ... id11321966

Thread reopened post cleanup.

I strongly encourage you to think carefully before you post on the cleaned up material.

Do not use this thread to speculate on things either. You'll have your answers soon enough. If you don't get a PM from me by week's end (probably), consider yourself awarded a complimentary sticker for non deplorable behavior.

February 11th. It's only now that I realize how old this story is... and yet it's not being covered by the media actively.

Edit 3: If you've noticed the footer of the website, it says:

CSNbbs is an independent fan site and is in no way affiliated to the NCAA or any of the schools and conferences it represents.

I had to roll my eyes when I read the word "independent" being used on that site.

Disclaimer: I do not know the accuracy of any of the comments I have made in this post, and I don't claim to know any information. I am only encouraging users to read other internet websites, while providing my own opinion on what the issue sounds like to me.

--- 28 Feb 2015, 12:43 ---

I'll throw in a disclaimer too.

Disclaimer: I do not know the accuracy of any of the comments I have made in this post, and I don't claim to know any information. I am only encouraging users to read other internet websites, while providing my own opinion on what the issue sounds like to me.

[Fergal]

Thanks for sharing that with us Rick, it's an interesting and worrying story. It's not nice to think that someone would try to identify a forum member and then sue for defamation. She must have felt very strongly about it, if she went to all that trouble to take an action. Looking forward to reading the opinion of other members on this one.

[forumcoinzzz]

Wow that is really crazy it's a forum site and at that it is the internet, some people need thicker skin thanks for sharing

[Rick Ace]

Thanks for sharing that with us Rick, it's an interesting and worrying story. It's not nice to think that someone would try to identify a forum member and then sue for defamation. She must have felt very strongly about it, if she went to all that trouble to take an action. Looking forward to reading the opinion of other members on this one.

The "plaintiff" (which would be the wife of the football player in this case) did not identify the forum members herself. She contacted lawyers who were able to get local law enforcement authorities to identify the user. Apparently, there are a lot of people to blame here. Did the lawyers have to present their evidence to a judge? If so, did the judge allow for the release of identifications? Otherwise, did the lawyers go straight to law enforcement, and did the ISP release identities without a fight? I would really like to know the ISP who released their identities too.

In a time where we're being constantly robbed of privacy, this is not something we can take for granted. Since FC has a lot of webmaster-related enthusiasts, I really think there might be of interest here. xD

[LShun]

Wow, that's quite....I think there is nothing wrong when speaking openly within limits ( that is, cultural, religion, country ).

[Masterminor]

Wow... This certainly has me scared. I don't want to get sued for being stupid on a forum.

[Mr Kewl]

Woah, well this is really shocking, especially for us normal forum lurkers.

[Rick Ace]

Lurkers? I think you mean the posters though.

[saraali786]

Thanks for sharing this is really shocking

[blueleaf]

To prevent this, we need to have respect with each other and avoid those nasty words. It make incriminate someone or something like that.

[johnson]

Well this could be good too. People can't just go around talking s*** about others without worrying about consequences.

[jacyjones]

We really should be sensitive with the things that we post online because we can be sued for it.

[nieboon]

well words are real powerful,, it only makes sense that it could raise a conflict like this. anyway, thanks for sharing

[dickdicker]

This is insane! We really need to choose the things that we post online.

[stern]

How about making this a wide known issue. It could educate a lot on what to do or what not to do

[jamesbrown]

It is not just forums that we might be sued for the things that we post. We should be careful for the things that we post online.

[trover]

People talk too much sometimes It would be a reminder that freedom of speech does not exactly mean you can publicly say anything.

[ganther]

I hope this doesn't happen here well i am seeing it to be unlikely to happen with FC's community anyway.

[jade100]

Freedom of speech is limited

[yashrajkarthikey2]

Its only that I need to be clean and quiet in terms of offensive matters and also follow fair forum guidelines... right...