Electronic Miscommunication and the Defamatory Sense

This article examines the effect that cultural and technological changes have had on interpersonal communication and aims to provide an interdisciplinary explanation for the recent proliferation of defamation in electronic media. The authors argue that the absence of certain extra-linguistic cues and established cultural convention in the electronic environment often results in miscommunication which — if not itself defamatory — gives rise to emotional exchanges between interlocutors in a manner that provokes defamation. The authors begin their analysis with a discussion of defamation law as a recipient-oriented tort, demonstrating the importance of the context of communication in the determination of whether a particular remark carries a defamatory sense. In order to better understand how an online communication is received and understood by its recipients, the authors then investigate three differences between electronic and other media of communications: i) that the technology-mediated and text-bases character of electronic communication makes the process of communication more difficult and the incidence of miscommunication more likely; ii) that the nature of social interaction in the online setting has a tendency to increase hostile communications that might be considered defamatory; iii) that the cultural context and standards of communication that develop in online communities will reduce the significance of these hostile communications. Applying these considerations to the law of defamation, the authors conclude by rejecting the naive point of view that a libel published through the Internet ought to be dealt with in exactly the same way that a libel published in a newspaper is dealt with. The authors end by calling for further empirical research about the content that is produced as a consequence of contextual challenges in electronic communication. Cet article analyse l\u27effet de changements culturels et technologiques sur la communication personnelle et vise à donner une explication interdisciplinaire de la récente prolifération de cas de diffamation dans les médias électroniques. Les auteurs posent que l\u27absence de certains signaux extra-linguistiques et de conventions culturelles dans l\u27environnement électronique mène souvent à une mauvaise communication qui – si elle n\u27est pas diffamatoire en soi — fait monter l\u27émotivité des interlocuteurs de manière à provoquer des échanges diffamatoires. Les auteurs discutent d\u27abord de la législation contre la diffamation en tant que tort orienté vers le destinataire et démontrent l\u27importance du contexte pour déterminer si le sens d\u27une remarque particulière est diffamatoire. Pour mieux appréhender comment une communication en ligne est reçue et comprise par ses destinataires, les auteurs abordent trois différences entre médias électroniques et autres: (1) le fait que les communications électroniques sont sous forme de textes et médiatisées par la technologie rend le processus plus difficile et la mauvaise communication plus probable; (2) ce type d\u27interaction sociale en ligne accroît tendanciellement les communications hostiles sinon diffamatoires; (3) le contexte culturel des communautés en ligne qui développent des standards de communication réduiront la portée des échanges hostiles. Appliquant ces dimensions au droit contre la diffamation, les auteurs concluent en rejetant le point de vue naïf selon lequel on devrait traiter de la même manière un libelle publié sur Internet ou dans un journal. D\u27autres recherche empiriques seront nécessaires sur le contenu produit face au défi contextuel de la communication électronique

Internet... the final frontier: an ethnographic account: exploring the cultural space of the Net from the inside

The research project The Internet as a space for interaction, which completed its mission in Autumn 1998, studied the constitutive features of network culture and network organisation. Special emphasis was given to the dynamic interplay of technical and social conventions regarding both the Net’s organisation as well as its change. The ethnographic perspective chosen studied the Internet from the inside. Research concentrated upon three fields of study: the hegemonial operating technology of net nodes (UNIX) the network’s basic transmission technology (the Internet Protocol IP) and a popular communication service (Usenet). The project’s final report includes the results of the three branches explored. Drawing upon the development in the three fields it is shown that changes that come about on the Net are neither anarchic nor arbitrary. Instead, the decentrally organised Internet is based upon technically and organisationally distributed forms of coordination within which individual preferences collectively attain the power of developing into definitive standards. --

Curating E-Mails; A life-cycle approach to the management and preservation of e-mail messages

E-mail forms the backbone of communications in many modern institutions and organisations and is a valuable type of organisational, cultural, and historical record. Successful management and preservation of valuable e-mail messages and collections is therefore vital if organisational accountability is to be achieved and historical or cultural memory retained for the future. This requires attention by all stakeholders across the entire life-cycle of the e-mail records. This instalment of the Digital Curation Manual reports on the several issues involved in managing and curating e-mail messages for both current and future use. Although there is no 'one-size-fits-all' solution, this instalment outlines a generic framework for e-mail curation and preservation, provides a summary of current approaches, and addresses the technical, organisational and cultural challenges to successful e-mail management and longer-term curation.

The Internet is a Semicommons

The Internet is a semicommons. Private property in servers and network links coexists with a shared communications platform. This distinctive combination both explains the Internet\u27s enormous success and illustrates some of its recurring problems. Building on Henry Smith\u27s theory of the semicommons in the medieval open-field system, this essay explains how the dynamic interplay between private and common uses on the Internet enables it to facilitate worldwide sharing and collaboration without collapsing under the strain of misuse. It shows that key technical features of the Internet, such as its layering of protocols and the Web\u27s division into distinct sites, respond to the characteristic threats of strategic behavior in a semicommons. An extended case study of the Usenet distributed messaging system shows that not all semicommons on the Internet succeed; the continued success of the Internet depends on our ability to create strong online communities that can manage and defend the infrastructure on which they rely. Private and common both have essential roles to play in that task, a lesson recognized in David Post\u27s and Jonathan Zittrain\u27s recent books on the Internet

ADR and Cyberspace: The Role of Alternative Dispute Resolution in Online Commerce, Intellectual Property and Defamation

Published in cooperation with the American Bar Association Section of Dispute Resolutio

Cyberspace: The Final Frontier, for Regulation?

This article will discuss the concept of anonymity on the Internet and argue for its protection. Part II provides background information on the Internet and illustrates the prominence the Internet has in today\u27s global society. Part III discusses the concept of anonymity and its importance in our daily communications and how these principles necessarily extend to online communication. Part IV outlines the purported justifications for regulating Internet content, which is followed by Part V discussing current and attempted regulations of the Internet. This article then argues for the full protection of online anonymous speech as mandated by fundamental principles of free speech, the traditions of our right to remain anonymous, and our notions of privacy. Finally, Part VII concludes by maintaining that self regulation of the Internet is preferable to intrusive governmental regulation