Barbara Bauer, named one of the publishing industry’s 20 Worst Literary Agents, has sued over 19 bloggers and website administrators for allegedly defaming her. The New Jersey Star-Ledger has reported on it, in part because Bauer is a local resident. Wikipedia and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America website have been named as well as Preditors & Editors. I’m glad that Wikipedia lawyers are getting involved. They have alot of experience in this realm. To date, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has begun to be interpreted fairly broadly to immunize websites from the actions of its commenters (and in Wikipedia’s case, the actions of the webizens who edit it).
The individuals responsible for editing and commenting, however, do not have the same protections. The problem I think for Bauer is in defamation suits, an absolute defense of libel is the truth. Any of the defendants would have the right to prove that Bauer had no good reputation from her own acts. Her whole life will be under the microscope now ala Roger Clemens and his multitude of affairs that are now seeing the light of day.
Via SmartBitches.
Loading ...
Open Threads at Dear Author. Want to know what new releases are out this month and what readers are excited about reading? Check out the threads below. 
We don’t like to censor comments nor do we endorse the comments of any poster. We do reserve the right to moderate comments but most of the time will not, believing, as Justice Brandeis did, that the greater good is in “more speech, not enforced silence.”
I’m keeping an eye on this one as well. It should be interesting to hear Barbara’s side answering some questions.
Has anything come of any of the other lawsuits she filed back in February? I’m thinking specifically of the one against Dave Kuzminski and Preditors and Editors.
This is the same one Maya.
An update: http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008807020356
[...] the grounds that the CDA provided a safe harbor for websites that host content created by others. I thought that this would be the ruling “To date, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has [...]
If you would like to help the defendants in this case, please visit http://authoradvocatedonations.googlepages.com/home and consider a donation to their legal defense fund. Thank you.
Dawn O’Bryan-Lamb
fund administrator