Billionaire Louis Bacon Wins Wikipedia Defamation Suit, Will Go After Names

Most comment trolls don't think they'll ever have to show their faces to the people they insult. But Louis Bacon, an American billionaire hedge fund manager has received the go-ahead from a London high court to force three websites to disclose the identities of his alleged defamers, the Guardian reports.

Bacon received permission to ask publishers behind Wikipedia, WordPress and the Denver Post to track down online commenters who he claims have posted libellous content about him, according to the Guardian. Bacon, now equipped with a Norwich Pharmacal Order, will serve the websites with the order so that he can go after these individuals for defamation.

But according to legal experts, it may be a difficult proposition to get these US companies to agree with the UK court order. The Guardian reports that the Wikimedia Foundation, and Automattic (the company that owns WordPress) have stated it will only comply with a US subpoena for such data.

Bacon succeeded in making a similar case against a UK-based site, justhost.com, last year. In the US, Bacon would have some precedent for his actions: last year, an Illinois newspaper was forced to reveal the names of online anonymous commenters in a defamation suit. The same happened to an Indianpolis newspaper in March. And last October, a business student was able to get a court to force Google to reveal the names of commenters insulting her on YouTube.

Comments

[Surfingthehuff]

05:35 PM on 05/23/2011

I find the today's reactions to be somewhat curious. Perhaps its the devastated economy, but people seem to immediately be leary of people with money. Why is that? It's that good old "fans of Robin Hood mentality." Steal from the rich and give to the poor. What a fairy tale! Stealing from anyone is still stealing and is criminal and degrading one's reputation unjustly is a form of theft.

I think the reason there are so many people negative comment on this thread is because they have never been attacked online. It's a real problem when people can say what they want about anybody, regardless if it's true or not. Googlebombing like this is a good example: http://www.site-build-it-scam.com. It doesn't have to be orchestrated as in that example, as it can be just a bunch of kids with nothing better to do with their time.

Because the Net is two dimensional it has a de-personalizing quality. When people aren't real, it somehow seems okay to play pranks and do malicious things. These are things people would never get away with offline and is occurring more and more frequently. It's very similar to the issues celebrities have with the paparazzi and all too easy to do.

[woody7]

10:52 AM on 05/12/2011

Free Dome ...................................of speech

[LuLou Murder]

01:55 PM on 05/11/2011

How apropos that this swine is named Bacon.

[woody7]

10:52 AM on 05/12/2011

you are next ha ha /

[artist-53]

09:15 AM on 05/11/2011

Louis Bacon has been depicted as paranoid,secretive and apparently didn't like wearing eyeglasses as a child.

I see a potential for a Howard Hughes personality in the making perhaps?:-)

His response to glasses: "Glasses were an affront to my youthful vanity"_Louis Bacon

Macro Moneymaker
http://www.forbes.com/global/2004/1220/072.html

[Synonymous Anonymous]

04:05 AM on 05/11/2011

He should invest more time on his hairline, less on his Wiki-image.

[mistercrispyusa]

01:15 AM on 05/11/2011

Louis Bacon eats his boogers while wearing a tutu and watching the Care Bears movie. Come after me Louis!

[robjh1]

11:58 PM on 05/10/2011

Bottom line if you are going to through mud man-up and reveal who you are (be it male or female).

[GustavoRejivik]

09:01 PM on 05/10/2011

Does this Case set the precedent for Glenn Beck, Palin, Bachmann, Limbaugh, Fox News and Donald Trump to sue Huff Po users for Defamation??

All these people have been trashed on here, compared to Hitler, called Racists ...

[Tauren Marine]

06:18 PM on 05/10/2011

I remember from my civics class that citizens' right to free speech have limits, and we can be held libel for defamation and outright lies. It's like screaming fire when there isn't one: your right to free speech ends when it violates the rights of another human being.

[Telemachus]

06:55 PM on 05/10/2011

Unless you're Karl Rove or anyone on Fox.

[GustavoRejivik]

09:02 PM on 05/10/2011

Or AOL/Huff Po and MSNBC ...

[woody7]

10:53 AM on 05/12/2011

yes tell that to the politicians and liars on Fox

[Vegan Girl]

05:06 PM on 05/10/2011

I don't think that lying about another person is OK on the internet. But I see a disparity in the following: billionaires can go after people lying about them on the internet. Regular people can not stop banks from evicting them based on fraudulent or missing paperwork. Bad lies about you - becoming homeless. Is there anyone else who finds this out of proportion?

I understand one is UK and the other one is USA. But if it is a global trend, then this is again protecting the rich, oppressing the rest. Where did "equal before the law" go?

[O Dannyboy]

05:21 PM on 05/10/2011

The law, in its majesty, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges.

... or something like that.

[100birra]

04:55 PM on 05/10/2011

Haha this guy is NUTS Crazy and greedy, probably has tons of illegal things going for him now and gets his dirty money to lawyers to go after whoever he chooses so.

So there. Here is a comment of you. Will HuffPost be able to tell them my name?

haha crazy

[woody7]

10:54 AM on 05/12/2011

your next also ha ...........ha............................

[On My Way 58]

04:27 PM on 05/10/2011

Anyone other than me concerned that this may set a precedent for the future of the internet as a whole?

[lqw]

04:35 PM on 05/10/2011

There have already been several cases in the US of people sued for postings that they made accussing someone of fraud, liar crook.
"A Broward County, Fla., jury has awarded a woman $11.3 million in an Internet defamation lawsuit that legal experts say could spur more courtroom battles over what's said online.

Sue Scheff filed the lawsuit against Carey Bock in December 2003, after the Louisiana woman called her a "crook," "con artist" and "fraud" on an Internet message board for parents interested in alternative schools for troubled teens."
http://redcatsboards.yuku.com/topic/17530/Woman-wins-11-3-million-in-Internet-defamation-case

[onionboy]

06:49 PM on 05/10/2011

No. Libel has always been illegal.

[dsh1007155]

04:26 PM on 05/10/2011

I never heard of this guy. But now, my personal opinion is that he is a jack#$$. Sue me, tough guy.

[BeautifulOnDaOutside]

04:19 PM on 05/10/2011

Here, you can join the Electronic Freedom Foundation, and get a cool hat:

https://secure.eff.org/site/Donation2?df_id=1200&1200.donation=form1

[BeautifulOnDaOutside]

04:08 PM on 05/10/2011

Last year, congress passed the SPEECH Act (Title 28 §§ 4101–4105), which prevents "libel tourism", by preventing US courts from recognizing or enforcing foreign defamation judgements, unless:

(A) the defamation law applied in the foreign court’s adjudication provided at least as much protection for freedom of speech and press in that case as would be provided by the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and by the constitution and law of the State in which the domestic court is located; or

(B) even if the defamation law applied in the foreign court’s adjudication did not provide as much protection for freedom of speech and press as the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the constitution and law of the State, the party opposing recognition or enforcement of that foreign judgment would have been found liable for defamation by a domestic court applying the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States and the constitution and law of the State in which the domestic court is located.