Defame (pronounced dih-feym)
(1) To attack the good name or reputation of, as by
uttering or publishing maliciously or falsely anything injurious; still in some
jurisdictions classified as slander (in speech or by gesture) or libel (something
permanent in some sense including writing, images & broadcasting);
calumniate.
(2) To disgrace; to bring dishonor upon (dating from the
fifteenth century and now archaic).
(3) To indict or accuse (dating from the fourteenth
century and long obsolete).
1275–1325: From the Middle English defamen, from the Old French & Anglo-French defamer (verb) & defame (noun) or directly from the Medieval
Latin dēfāmāre, a variant of the Medieval
& Classical Latin diffāmāre (related
to the Classical Latin dēfāmātus (infamous))
(to spread the news of; to spread by unfavorable report; to slander), the
construct being dif- (an alternative
form of dis- (the prefix form dif- appearing only when the prefix dis- was added to a word beginning with
f, as in difficilis (difficult) from facilis (easy), or diffiteor (deny) from fateor (acknowledge))
+ -fāmāre (verbal derivative of fāma (news, rumor, slander)), It replaced the Middle English diffamen, from the Anglo-French & Old
French diffamer or directly from
Medieval Latin, source the Latin diffāmō,
from fāma (fame; rumor; reputation). The verb defame (speak evil of, maliciously
speak or write what injures the reputation of) dates from circa 1300, from the Old
French defamer (which in the thirteenth century became the Modern French diffamer).
The construct in English is de- + fame. The de- prefix was from the Latin dē-, from the preposition dē (of, from (the Old English æf- was a similar prefix). It imparted the sense of (1) reversal,
undoing, removing, (2) intensification and (3) from, off. Fame was from the Middle English fame, from the
Old French fame (celebrity, renown), from the Latin fāma (talk, rumor, report, reputation), from the primitive Indo-European
beh-meh from beh (to
speak, say, tell). It was cognate with
the Ancient Greek φήμη (phḗmē) (talk) and related to the Old
English bōian (to boast), bēn (prayer, request) & bannan (to summon, command, proclaim). It displaced the Old English hlīsa.
Defame and its derivatives are defined in law but in general use the
vaguely synonymous terms include backbite, besmirch, denigrate, derogate, discredit,
disgrace, disparage, malign, revile, scandalize, smear, vilify, asperse, belie,
blacken, blister, calumniate, detract, dishonor, knock, pan, roast & scorch. Defame is a noun and verb, defaming is a verbs,
defamer & defamation are nouns, defamingly is an adverb, defamed is a verb
& adjective and defamatory is an adjective.
Google LLC v Defteros, Case # M86/2021 on appeal from Supreme Court of
Victoria (Court of Appeal) (17 June 2021, VSCA 167).
The High Court of Australia (HCA) recently ruled that in
certain circumstances, Google (and presumably every other search engine) is not
a publisher, the critical point in this case being that a hyperlink generated
in an organic search is “merely a tool
which enables a person to navigate to another webpage”. The case before the country’s highest court
was an appeal from Victoria’s court of appeal which in 2021 declined to overturn
a defamation finding in favor of a lawyer known for representing underworld
figures and others associated with organized crime. The state courts had found Google was the
publisher of a defamatory 2004 newspaper article on the basis its search
results were instrumental in communicating the content to readers. Google had argued providing a hyperlink to content
did not constitute publication and therefore it could not be liable for any
defamatory material in the piece. Apart
from a discussion of the legal principles, counsel for Google also informed the
HCA that were the decision of the lower court to be confirmed, it would have a “devastating” impact on the way the
internet operates because it would compel search engines individually to see
legal opinion on the billions of results to which hyperlinks are daily
generated. Google maintained it acted on
the internet only as a navigator responding to users’ requests for directions and
it was (and given the volumes had to be) wholly disinterested in the content of
that to which its hyperlinks referenced, the operator of the hyperlinked link
being the one which communicates (and thus publishes) the content to the user.
The facts of the case were also interesting in that they played
out on a time-scale very different to that of most defamation matters. Google was notified of the article in
February 2016, some eleven years after it was published in the newspaper but it
was not until December that year that the link was removed from search. Interestingly, the “removal request form”
submitted in 2016 had alleged the original article was defamatory and that proceedings
brought against the newspaper in 2007 had resulted in a settlement at mediation
which included the deletion of the article. There was however no such settlement and
proceedings against the newspaper had never commenced. In 2020, the Supreme Count on Victoria (VSC) ruled
the article implied the lawyer’s relationship with certain figures in organized
crime had gone beyond a professional relationship to the point of being a confidant
and friend and he had thus been defamed.
He was awarded damages of Aus$40,000.
In a 5-2 judgment, the HCA ruled in Google’s favor, finding
that search engine’s results “merely
facilitated access” to the material and that did not reach the threshold required
to amount to publication in a legal sense, the point being that Google “…had not participated in the writing or
disseminating of the defamatory matter”.
The other side of the HCA’s judgment was that it rejected the claim that
search results “enticed” the person
searching to open the provided hyperlink and thus proceed to the material on
the basis that the person would already be looking for particular information
before the result was received. That was
interesting but a wrinkle was added by one judge who differentiated between an
organic hyperlink and a sponsored link in which each click generated advertising
revenue which accrued to Google. That
matter however did not come before the lower courts and is thus not considered
part of the substantive judgment (the ratio decidendi (reason (or rationale)
for the decision) but is a piece of obiter dictum (by the way) which, left
hanging in the legal air, might in the future be re-visited and, because it
involves the core component of the search engines’ business model, interest
will be greater still. There certainly
may be more to explore because the court, having found there was no basis for
finding publication because Google had not participated in the writing or
disseminating of the defamatory matter, noted that "…there being no publication”, the majority found it unnecessary to
consider the defenses raised by the appellant.
That was a shame because it might have been an interesting discussion
given Google filed, inter alia, defenses
of innocent dissemination and qualified privilege.
There were however dissenting opinions, the most
interesting of which at length discussed the actual mechanics of Google’s
search engine, the succession of algorithms which interact with its indexes to
generate the results seen by users. In
the view of one judge, what these components did constituted an “active and voluntary participation in the
process that is in fact directed to making matter available for comprehension
by a third party” and was thus an act of publication and that moreover
neither the defense of innocent dissemination and qualified privilege, nor the
defense of statutory qualified privilege available under Victoria’s Defamation
Act 2005 were sustained. The judge also
hinted that a distinction between the results generated by organic search and those
of sponsored content was not of necessity clear because of the commercial
benefits which Google anyway gained through the operation of the search engine. The other dissenting judge substantially
agreed, adding that the matter of publication before the court would have been
impossible without the operation of Google’s algorithms which “intentionally assisted in the process of
conveying the words bearing defamatory meaning to a third party” and that publication
would not have occurred but for Google’s facilitation.
So, the HCA has issued what is (for now) a definitive ruling
on a search engine’s liability for third-party publications to which it has
directed users, finding there is none, rejecting even the analogy cited by the
lower court of a librarian handing someone a book with a certain page marked,
preferring the example of someone in the street being asked for direction to a
bookshop which turned out to have on its shelves a book containing a defamatory
passage. It seems inevitable that at
least some of the matters raised in Google
LLC v Defteros will again be litigated and analogies similes and metaphors
will return to the battle. Whether long-established
legal principles can be reconciled with a public policy which would seem to
suggest the algorithms of the search engines are acknowledged now to be an
essential part of modern life, remains to be seen.
Meet our spokesperson. With experience in civil litigation and other legal matters, Lindsay Lohan was a good choice to be lawyer.com's spokesperson.
Noted litigant Lindsay Lohan hasn’t enjoyed great success
in her defamation suits, even when pursued on the basis of commercial rights. In 2015, a defamation case against Fox News
was dismissed, the judge ruling (perhaps unfairly given the nature of the
evidence), "truth is a defense"
(and in the US it is an absolute defense).
The case concerned Ms Lohan and her mother and according to their
filing, Fox News “falsely,
inappropriately, and shockingly” stated, unequivocally and as a “matter of fact” stated “Lindsay Lohan’s mother is doing cocaine with
her”. The judge noted Ms Lohan’s
mother is a public figure and that the statements made on Fox News were not
made maliciously (in US law two vital points used to determine whether or not
something is at law, considered defamatory).
Interestingly Fox News had formally apologized for what they called an “oversight”
in airing the piece, noting the evidence later introduced couldn’t verify the claim
and that the material had been removed from their archives.
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