Differences and Consequences in Cyberlibel Litigation and Offline Libel Litigation

AuthorDavid A. Potts
ProfessionBarrister, Bar of Ontario
Pages48-54
48
 : Dierences and Consequences
in Cyberlibel Litigation and Oine Libel
Litigation
A. DIFFERENCES
ere are a number of di erenc es be tween oin e libe l and cybe rlibe l lit iga-
tion.
) Jurisdiction
In oi ne libel there is one institution, such as a traditional press or media
outlet that is situated in one location and one jurisdiction. In cyberlibel, how-
ever, the defendants can be located in numerous jurisdictions.
) Medi a
e medium that is used in oine libel is typically one of television, radio,
or print. An on line libel, in contrast can be digitally iterated in print, radio,
television, or any combination thereof.
) Identifyi ng the Defendant
In oine libel and traditional media libel act ions, there is usually an institu-
tion such as a media outlet, whereas in online l ibel there are oen a range
of networked individuals or simply individuals. In oine libel t he origi nal
publisher is usually the primary defendant. In online libel there can be num-
erous dierent types of defendants, including the original author, the website
host, the Internet Service Provider (ISP) and in some cases the search engine.
Each of these dierent defendants will, depend ing on their characterization,
have dierent liabilities and dierent defences. In oine libel, the defendants
will generally be identiable. In online libel, quite frequently they wi ll not

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