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Is Creating A Fake News Story Libel Or Copyright Infringement?
from the seems-a-bit-questionable dept
Creating fake news stories has a long history on the web. People do it all the time, usually for fun as something of a hoax. Many of these stories pretend to be from respected news publications -- but to anyone beyond the most casual observer, it should be obvious that they're fakes, based on the fact that they're not hosted on the actual publications' website. However, that's apparently not enough for some. Romenesko points out that the Oklahoma Publishing Company (publishers of The Oklahoman) and sports writer Jake Trotter are suing a guy who wrote up a fake article (using Trotter's byline) and posted it on his own website. The news report covering this is in the Oklahoman's own paper, so it doesn't share the guy's side. However, a look around various blogs shows what you'd expect: he did it as a silly hoax because he's a fan of Nebraska's football team over Oklahoma's. So he created a silly fake news story about some Oklahoma players. Yes, it was stupid, but sports fans do plenty of stupid things against opposing teams.
There isn't any indication that anyone actually believed this fake story was true. It was only posted on a site whose domain was clearly someone rooting for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, rather than on the Oklahoman's actual website. It's difficult to see what sort of "damages" this story could have had on anyone. Yes, it was a stupid hoax stunt from an overly passionate fan, but suing him for libel, copyright infringement and trademark infringement seems like an even bigger overreaction in response.
There isn't any indication that anyone actually believed this fake story was true. It was only posted on a site whose domain was clearly someone rooting for the Nebraska Cornhuskers, rather than on the Oklahoman's actual website. It's difficult to see what sort of "damages" this story could have had on anyone. Yes, it was a stupid hoax stunt from an overly passionate fan, but suing him for libel, copyright infringement and trademark infringement seems like an even bigger overreaction in response.
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Everyone a publisher
Now we see it again. In an era where anyone can be a publisher, anyone can now also take on the risks associated with that role. This kind of lawsuit, whether it makes sense for the plaintiff or not, is one of those risks.
In this specific case, you might be able to come up with an obvious legislative or legal change that will solve the issue in the future. In the general case, this presents a difficult problem to solve. Being a publisher can expose you to risks that can't simply be legislated away. For example, you could publish something that hurts your reputation, or make someone angry enough to break the law.
Under the old system, the few publishers typically had enough resources to defend against many of the smaller finacial risks, or take out insurance to help absorb some larger ones. With the new system, this isn't always the case. A single serious lawsuit could bankrupt anyone before they have a chance to have it dismissed. Additionally, many new 'publishers' are ill-equipped to even fully evaluate what the risks are.
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fake news stories
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Re: fake news stories
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Read the original story
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Get some legal consultants.
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Re: Get some legal consultants.
and I am not competent enough to discuss blogs ---
but guess what ... I do not need to be
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Re: Get some legal consultants.
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Re: Get some legal consultants.
You know, rather than slamming us for writing, you might, I dunno... actually point out what we got wrong, so at least we could respond and make a correction.
However, I think you should at least note that this post wasn't about the legal aspects in any way. It was just pointing out that the newspaper appeared to be overreacting to a fan pulling a stupid hoax.
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bad taste
I can't see how such behavior can be condoned, by any yardstick. Stupidity alone can't be a reason to seek pardon. Sometimes it needs to be punished. In this case, most certainly so.
And this joker has even gone one step ahead by assuming another man's identity. I simply cannot see why this should be treated lightly and not be brought up before a court of law.
IMHO, this was not an overreaction at all. People ought to realize that they cannot get away with anything simply because the Net offers the advantage of anonymity.
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More
And actually, someone did notice the story and report it as true. Radio stations in Texas reported the incident as fact. Now, you have to understand that Texas and Oklahoma are huge rivals and it's a nasty rivalry, so no doubt the Texas stations were more than happy to report the story as fact.
What I find interesting is that the radio stations aren't being sued for getting it wrong, as if there is no responsibility on their part. I'm no lawyer, but I'm guessing that's because they are more capable of mounting a defense than some guy that runs his own web site.
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The Daily Oklahoman sports writer almost certainly has a pro-OK slant to his stories. To write a pro-Nebraska story using his name sullies his reputation. If people thought this was real, there would almost certainly be some who demand he be fired from the paper.
Creating a hoax site/story is one thing. Making it look like a real-live writer wrote it is another.
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Gaylord Family - Huge OU Money supporters
As a huge OU fan myself, I think it's funny as hell (the satire that is, not the Gaylord's thin skin).
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On another note, that newspaper is one of the absolute worst. The errors and blatant bias in the reporting make it worth nothing more than doggy doo doo paper; except the paper is so thin it is barely useful for that either.
Maybe if the Gaylord family gives more money, OU will name the football team to the OU Gay Lords.
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http://www.t7b.com
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شات
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