Action against Libel

[Wendy Milner <wmilner@verinet.com>]

>Do you have the email address so all of of Ridecamp could email the Tom
>Jones' server?  How about the others' servers?  Recently, I read about a
>very successful lawsuit against not only an individual who committed libel
>(slander reduced to written communication and published)and Intentional
>Infliction of Emotional Distress, but also against the server who didn't
>immediately take action to terminate the offender after the behavior was
>reported to the server.


This is not the right approach to take.  If you were to try to 
sue all the servers (which by the way are just computers), you
would also have to include the list manager, and would probably
shut down Ridecamp.

This is exactly what happened a few years ago when lawsuits were
files against any person or company that acted as a host for various
lists, and those lists contained any "inappropriate" material.
Some lists, such as Breast Cancer Survivors Group were killed
because they included explicite language.  

Unfortunately, there is little that can be done to stop the 
initial assult.  Anyone can get a free 10 hours or so from
AOL, and not provide any proof of identity.  And you can get
as many of these as you want.  There are also many free e-mail
accounts where you can logon and posts nearly anonymously.
Once an assult has been made, with work you can track down
the account and get it closed, but by then, the damage has
been done.  For those of us on the receiving end, the best is
to completely ignore the attacker.  If you'll wade through all
the posts to Ridecamp, you'll find that the majority of the
traffic is from people protesting the assult.  There is probably
a 20:1 ratio.  And, the responses almost always include a
snippet or the entire post of the attacker, thus reinforcing
what the attacker said.

It is certainly a sad fact that people can hide and attack in
such a manner.  What the rest of us can do is not be dragged
down by the few.  

Just hang in there with Ridecamp.  The roar will die down shortly
and we'll get back to endurance related topics.

Wendy