Defamation havens

First Monday

Volumn 5, Issue 3, 2000, Pages

  Martin, Brian ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF WOLLONGONG   (Australia)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0344891953     PISSN: 13960466     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.5210/fm.v5i3.734     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. On whistleblowing and suppression of dissent more generally, see for example William De Maria, Deadly Disclosures (Adelaide: Wakefield Press, 1999);
2. David W. Ewing, Freedom Inside the Organization: Bringing Civil Liberties to the Workplace (New York: Dutton, 1977);
3. Myron Peretz Glazer and Penina Migdal Glazer, The Whistleblowers: Exposing Corruption in Government and Industry (New York: Basic Books, 1989);
4. Geoffrey Hunt (editor), Whistleblowing in the Social Services: Public Accountability and Professional Practice (London: Arnold, 1998);
5. Nicholas Lampert, Whistleblowing in the Soviet Union: Complaints and Abuses under State Socialism (London: Macmillan, 1985);
6. Marcia P. Miceli and Janet P. Near, Blowing the Whistle: The Organizational and Legal Implications for Companies and Employees (New York: Lexington Books, 1992);
7. Gerald Vinten (editor), Whistleblowing - Subversion or Corporate Citizenship? (London: Paul Chapman, 1994);
8. Deena Weinstein, Bureaucratic Opposition: Challenging Abuses at the Workplace (New York: Pergamon, 1979);
9. Alan F. Westin, with Henry I. Kurtz and Albert Robbins (editors), Whistle Blowing! Loyalty and Dissent in the Corporation (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981).
10. Eric Barendt, Laurence Lustgarten, Kenneth Norrie and Hugh Stephenson, Libel and the Media: The Chilling Effect (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997);
11. Robert Pullan, Guilty Secrets: Free Speech and Defamation in Australia (Sydney: Pascal Press, 1994).
12. David Bowman, "The story of a review and its $180,000 consequence," Australian Society, volume 2, number 6 (1 July 1983), pp. 28-30.
13. Avon Lovell, The Mickelberg Stitch (Perth: Creative Research, 1985);
14. Avon Lovell, Split Image: International Mystery of the Mickelberg Affair (Perth: Creative Research, 1990).
15. Sir Robert Askin, premier of the Australian state of New South Wales for the decade 1965-1975, was widely thought to receive large bribes, but nothing was said in the mass media until just he died, after which he could not sue for defamation. For the first posthumous exposé, see David Hickie, "Askin: friend to organised crime," National Times, 13-19 September 1981, pp. 1, 8. Note that in some jurisdictions, relatives can sue for defamation after the death of the defamed person.
16. For a comparison of countries, see Michael Newcity, "The sociology of defamation in Australia and the United States," Texas International Law Journal, volume 26, number 1 (Winter 1991), pp. 1-69.
17. Michael K. Curtis, "Monkey trials: science, defamation, and the suppression of dissent," William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal, volume 4, number 2 (1995), pp. 507-593.
18. George W. Pring and Penelope Canan, SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996).
19. After leaving the University of Adelaide, Pinnock entered private enterprise and has been doing very well for himself. He has not been directly involved in struggles over the document about his case at the University.
20. David Rome, Vice-Principal (Administration), University of Wollongong, phone conversion, 26 August 1997.
21. David Rome, Vice-Principal (Administration), University of Wollongong, letter to Brian Martin, 20 August 1997.
22. Geoff Maslen, "Unis clash over redundancy protest on Web", Campus Review, volume 7, number 33 (27 August - 2 September 1997), p. 1;
23. Geoff Maslen, "When redundancy strikes ...", p. 11.
24. Ironically, given the value of Net publication for Rindos' struggles, Rindos himself used defamation law to sue an anthropologist who defamed him on a computer bulletin board, winning A$40,000 which, however, was never paid. This was one of the world's first successful legal actions for defamation on the Net.
25. Brian Martin, letter, Campus Review, volume 6, number 21 (5-11 June 1996), p. 8.
26. Joe Poprzeczny, "UWA in web site attack," Sunday Times (Perth), 12 May 1996;
27. Joe Poprzeczny, "Rindos affair hits the net," Sunday Times (Perth), 19 May 1996
28. ; Peter Morris, "UWA Rindos case writ threats spark storm," West Australian, 7 June 1996.
29. An issue not addressed here is power inequalities on the Net in relation to defamation. For example, if a large ISP defames an individual, there might not be an equivalent opportunity to reply. Some on-line discussion groups are closed, again restricting opportunities for response.
30. I thank Judith Gibson, Hugh Jarvis and Danny Yee for helpful comments on a draft.