Is Internet Defamation Defined as Slander, Libel or Both?
Until the recent development of “podcasts,” and other types of online videos such as those featured on YouTube, Defamation on the Internet was largely deigned Libel. But whether an online case of accused Defamation should fall under either category of Libel or Slander will not be nearly as meaningful as whether the activity satisfies the basic Defamation criteria, as defined above. What is most important is to focus upon the actual statement, whether verbal or written, that a plaintiff claims is defamatory. A recently filed case illustrates the application of a libel claim in a blogging case in NY, Stuart Pivar v. Seed Media, 2007cv07334, Filed August 16, 2007, in New York Southern District Court. Seed Media pays PZ Myers to blog at ScienceBlogs.com, and there he reviewed a book by Dr. Stuart Pivar, called “LifeCode: The Theory of Biological Self Organization” which purports to reconfigure Darwinian Evolution. Myers claimed Pivar is a “classic crackpot” on his http://scienceblogs.com/p
