(2002-05-30) c

The Fourth Circuit Court Of Appeals is hearing arguments as to whether the appropriate jurisdiction for a libel suit is the victim's location (rather than the publisher's). Advocates of free speech and news media lawyers worry that if the District Court decision stands, online publishers could be sued for defamation in any state or country that an online article is read. "The danger is that a doctrine of this sort could cause publications large, small or medium to decline to put on their Web pages material that might offend a person in a remote jurisdiction," said Robert M. O'Neil, director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression. Here's a radical Reputation Management idea: eliminate the entire concept of libel/slander.

Apparently there's an international treaty being negotiated about this issue.