A Google blogger, Rosemary Port, lost in a defamation lawsuit against a Canadian model, Liskula Cohen, who was called "Skanks in NYC" in Ms Port's blog. Subsequently, Ms Port filed a lawsuit against Google for damages of $15 million.
One of the most fascinating things of the case is the argument between privilege of anonymous speech and libel in Internet. It is a common sense that anonymous speech is not an absolute right. Ms Port argued that her blog would never be read de facto by any third parties, other than the claimant and herself. However, in principle, everybody could surf it. And in normal defamation case, the phrase "Skanks in NYC" itself is prima facie libelous.
The other interesting point of the case is Ms Port's allegation against Google, that it "breached its fiduciary duty to protect Ms Port's expectation of anonymity." The "breach of its fiduciary duty" part is both creative and legally sound. And the shrewdest thing is to evade the argument on the point of libel. However, we should not forget at the first place that Google's "leakage" of Ms Port's privacy was to comply with court's request. Is there any ground for Google to say no to court, e.g. by civil disobedience? But, America is no China.
Ms Port claimed that "this has become a public spectacle and a circus that is not my doing". It just made me giggle that being the culprit, as always, Ms Port would never understand that by saying so, she solidified her role as a clown, the protagonist of this spectacle.
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