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ARTICLE · 27 JUNE 2006

Free Speech? Well Not As We Know It!

MacRoberts
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A chat room bulletin board has resulted in an unprecedented award of £10,000 in damages for defamatory comments posted and once again raises important questions for company policies on internet and email usage.

United KingdomPrivacy
David Flint
David Flint
Valerie Surgenor
Valerie Surgenor
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A chat room bulletin board has resulted in an unprecedented award of £10,000 in damages for defamatory comments posted and once again raises important questions for company policies on internet and email usage.

Michael Keith Smith, a member of the UK Independence Party, was subjected to a campaign of "frenzied abuse" from a Ms Tracy Williams, a fellow user of a Yahoo! discussion board website. Ms Williams, using an alias, posted numerous defamatory remarks about Mr Smith, in response to anti-war sentiments he had posted on the site. Despite using an alias, a court order was obtained and NTL were required to disclose Ms Williams’ personal details. Ms Williams failed to provide a defence and summary judgment was pronounced.

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