I've never been comfortable with claims of "disturbing the peace" as one person's threshold for peace may be quite low compared to another person's making it difficult to establish a reasonable standard. However, I am certain an email address can libel.
If someone registered john.doe-is-a-pedophile@hotmail.com and e-mailed all the local schools and parks officials in his community without saying anything libelous in the body of the e-mail, I think Mr. Doe would be libeled, with the only defense being if it were true.
In this case, if the professor was the only one to see it, maybe it's truly not even libel. However, something tells me the kid probably showed it to his friends. That would make him vulnerable to civil litigation, if not criminal prosecution for disturbing the peace.
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Libel In Email Address
I've never been comfortable with claims of "disturbing the peace" as one person's threshold for peace may be quite low compared to another person's making it difficult to establish a reasonable standard. However, I am certain an email address can libel.
If someone registered john.doe-is-a-pedophile@hotmail.com and e-mailed all the local schools and parks officials in his community without saying anything libelous in the body of the e-mail, I think Mr. Doe would be libeled, with the only defense being if it were true.
In this case, if the professor was the only one to see it, maybe it's truly not even libel. However, something tells me the kid probably showed it to his friends. That would make him vulnerable to civil litigation, if not criminal prosecution for disturbing the peace.