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Any intentional false communication, either written or spoken, that harms a person's reputation; decreases the respect, regard, or confidence in which a person is held; or induces disparaging, hostile, or disagreeable opinions or feelings against a person.
Defamation may be a criminal or civil charge. It encompasses both written statements, known as libel, and spoken statements, called slander.
The probability that a plaintiff will recover damages in a defamation suit depends largely on whether the plaintiff is a public or private figure in the eyes of the law.
Wrabbit2000
For the average person tho? meh.... Anonymity is a laugh and ends at your ISP. If they won't give up your name by request, you're about that anonymous. If they will send your ID to a legal request....well, you're not that anonymous. Pretty simple, I'd say.
AndyMayhew
Internet anomimity certainly allows people to get away with making offensive and deframatory comments they would never normally make (or get away with)
Personally, though, the day I have to hide behind a false identity on the internet is the day I cease using it. I'm me - and anyone can readily find out who I am. And probably where I live.
theyknowwhoyouare
That is how it begins. Find something justifiable in the eyes of most and milk it.
Then it will be "that person called me a criminal online" for politicians. Do you not see how these slippery slope laws are used by law makers? They take an inch here a foot there. A few years later people are wondering how far things have come when the only thing you are allowed to do online is shop and talk about the weather.