Speak No Evil…?
Tuesday, July 1st, 2008
Update: an article today (July 2) on the website of the Asbury Park Press reports that the suit against Wikimedia has been dismissed. A story hit the web last evening to that effect, but not having seen anything to corroborate it, I didn’t want to say as much last evening. Read on…
An article in yesterday’s Newark, NJ Star-Ledger highlights a series of lawsuits brought by Monmouth County literary agent Barbara Bauer against no fewer than nineteen websites and web companies. In the opposite corner are, among others, the Electronic Freedom Foundation and Wikimedia, the parent organization of the online open-source encyclopedia Wikipedia, which seek to have the case dismissed.
The crux of Bauer’s case is that criticism on a wide range of websites, some of which have taken on her practices as an agent and others of which have taken a decidedly more personal tack, have eroded both her reputation and her business. If it’s tried, the outcome of the case bids to have consequences far outside the Garden State. (more…)