Pro golfer Fuzzy Zoeller has teed up a lawsuit and while I can't say for certain Wiki has co-operated, Zoeller appears to be in the fairway, as the suit is now sitting at the door of the employer of the individual he believes slandered him by making a disparaging Wiki entry.
Zoeller's attorney, Scott D. Sheftall, said he filed the lawsuit against a Miami firm last week because the law won't allow him to sue St. Petersburg-based Wikipedia. The suit alleges someone used a computer at Josef Silny & Associates, a Miami education consulting firm, to add the information to Zoeller's Wikipedia profile.
"Courts have clearly said you have to go after the source of the information," Sheftall said. "The Zoeller family wants to take a stand to put a stop to this. Otherwise, we're all just victims of the Internet vandals out there. They ought not to be able to act with impunity."
It doesn't say how, but Zoeller's attorney was obviously able to get the IP address of the individual who made the entry.
According to the lawsuit, the profile was last "vandalized" on Dec. 20 from a computer with an Internet address assigned to Josef Silny & Associates.
The August entry is gone now, it alleged that Zoeller abused drugs, alcohol and also his family. Yes, people misbehave on the Internet, generally as they believe it has no cost. Someone may soon find out that isn't always the case.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said no one has contacted the site about the lawsuit. He said volunteer editors are aggressive about cleaning up inaccuracies reported to the site.
"We try to police it pretty closely, but people do misbehave on the Internet," Wales said.
More like in the sand trap. This lawsuit won't go very far. Are we really prepared to say that posting inaccurate information on your own web site is grounds for a lawsuit? And if not, why is Wikipedia so different?
If this goes through, I can think of a number of rightwing "misbehavers" who frequently post unsubstantiated character attacks and never retract them, even when it becomes clear that the stories are Riehlly Fake™...
Posted by: scarshapedstar | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 10:15 AM
"who frequently post unsubstantiated character attacks"
MoDo is a right winger?
Posted by: Purple Avenger | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 12:20 PM
"people do misbehave on the Internet," Wales said."
They do? Dang...
Posted by: Phoenix | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 12:44 PM
Notice one of the most vociferous and rude trolls is absent? He claimed to be a divorce attorney. Good old Bill Adkins said he kept a handgun in his desk drawer because divorce clients get real riled up.
DUH. Hello, Google! We spank you and you don't even know it.
Posted by: Phoenix | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 12:49 PM
Yeah, Bill said he kept a Ruger semi-auto in his desk drawer, which goes to show how bad his judgment is, as I would definitely go with my Colt Combat Commander in .45 ACP.
Posted by: templar knight | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 03:56 PM
If HIS clients are trying to kill him, maybe he needs to tighten up on his client selection criteria. Just saying...
Posted by: Purple Avenger | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 05:28 PM
...or stop robbing his clients ;->
Posted by: Purple Avenger | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 05:29 PM
Haw... I opt for the latter, PA. :)
Wait. Considering how rude he was, his own paying clients probably hate him.
Can't you see him after losing a case: "Oh, tough shit you dumb ass moron. You didn't deserve to win anyway." Yeah, I think he had that weapon for his own clients.
Posted by: Phoenix | Sunday, February 25, 2007 at 10:21 PM
Colt Commander .45 ACP is defintely worth having within easy reach.
I'll settle for a Desert Eagle .50 though. :)
Posted by: seekeronos | Monday, February 26, 2007 at 10:12 PM