[WikiEN-l] ArbCom Legislation

[Andrew Gray]

2008/6/23  <WJhonson at aol.com>:

> The Star Wars boy could only sue under two jurisdictions.  Either the  one
> where he lives, or the one where Wikipedia headquarters lives.  He  can't choose
> to sue anywhere in the world.  It would probably set a legal  precedent were
> some court in the US to decide that merely "naming" a person is  harassment or
> whatever.

Sadly, no; he can "choose" to sue in a number of jurisdictions which
a) interpret the act of defamation as having occurred in the location
where it was read, not the location where it was originally published;
and b) percieve him as having standing to be defamed. This isn't a new
concept; we even have an article on it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libel_tourism

Sure, WMF - or any random editor - is fairly safe from this; but the
fact remains it happens. Repeatedly asserting that this isn't the case
really isn't helping your argument, here.

> A reporter shows what's going on, they don't hide from it on some moral  high
> ground while wearing blinders.  Our job is to show the world as it is,  not
> as we wish it were by hiding from it.

Our job is to WRITE AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.

-- 
- Andrew Gray
 andrew.gray at dunelm.org.uk