Fund to support Mumsnet through the battle

I'd love to have morningpaper's question answered, btw.

I will be happy to throw money after this cause! Even if we have to go down, it won't be without a damned good fight as far as I'm concerned.

This is incredible. I wouldn't have believed it possible. It sounds as if one would be willing to sacrifice their nose to spite their face. One has been accepted as an authority on a certain subject & then one proceeds to completely discredit oneself in order to make a point? And what point was that, exactly?

thanks. it's not usual for me to get my cheques returned!

hi justine - i sent a small legal fund donation to your PO Box address that you posted and it has just come back in the post to me with "box cancelled" on envelope. are you not collecting donations?

A settlement doesn't necessarily require any money changing hands just each party carrying their own costs.

FA will have to prove that any comments made were damaging enough to cause monetary loss.

This will not be easy.

Is there anyone around who has been on nobody's website forum? Is there any way we can find out what's being said on there or if posts are disappearing?

How do you settle a case like this? If mn chose/was advised to settle, it would only clear the slate in respect of past "transgressions" ie the so-called offensive posts that were made in the past.

But mn cannot control what happens in the future, if people nonetheless write "offensive" things post-settlement. There will always be some comments that will slip the net and get our friend all riled up again. Then another law suit? Another fund?

I agree that any contribution should be to a fighting fund so that the courts can clarify the law in this area regarding ISPs/mn's liability once and for all. I would NOT want to contribute to any settlement.

GeorginaA, I was demonstrating that by having the ability to delete the message the user is in full control, and therefore it is the user and not mumsnet who is the publisher. The statement is still libelous (is that a word?), but the responsibiliy is the user's not mumnet's. Of course, I believe this is already the case, but my DH thinks if users could delete themselves it would help to argue the point in court.

Don't know, Uwila - I think there are a couple of members on here though. I would suspect it's got a private message function, though how vetted they are, I don't know (well, I suspect heavily!).

Justine, are you considering going to court? Can you get no win no fee?

If I join her website (not that I would for £40!), canI contact other member directly?

Yup.

Also in a closed forum it can be argued that any libel wouldn't have as large an audience so damage would be limited and any damages awarded would reflect that.

Uwila - in law, deleting makes no difference - a libel is a libel regardless of whether it is removed. Now, whether removing it swiftly can be seen as taking adequate measures... that has yet to be tested in a court of law. THAT'S the precedent that has yet to be set...

Think contacting her sponsors is a good idea.

Oh, and I agree that I would contribute to the legal costs but not a settlement.

The demon case has a big difference. Demon refused to remove the offending post when asked to do so. But, Mumsnet has gone to great lengths to accommodate nobody's requests. They have really made more than resonable efforts.

Something my DH said that I thought was interesting was that he thought that if mumsnet allowed users to delete their own posts then mumsnet would have a stronger argument to say the user controls the content and not mumsnet. I, personally, think they have this covered by the report a post facility. But, I don't know perhaps he's right. Although, I should also add that my DH thinks he'd see more of me if mumsnet was shut down so he's not necessarily opposed to that happening. Poor DH, it's not gonna happen!

If MN settle, there's nothing to stop her coming back and doing this again in a couple of years' time - unless she's never mentioned again on this site by anyone.

Yes, posts are being deleted now if they cross "the line", but they were deleted before this all kicked off - the ones she's kicked off about have been deleted, so it's the same situation, IMO.

I'm happy to donate to a fighting fund, but not for a settlement. I realise that it's not my house on the line, etc - but this is how I feel. There's a LOT that needs to come out in court about this...

Although thinking about it, if SHE is getting around the Mumsnet Ltd thing by suing Justine et al personally, then presumably THEY'D have to relocate to the US as well, which is obviously less than convenient.

As I understood it, Mumsnet going bankrupt isn't an option as it's Justine et al who are directly being sued, not Mumsnet Ltd. Bankrupcy becomes a lot harder when it's your home you're losing.

Demon Internet tried to say they were not the publisher they were a common carrier, but failed.

I honestly believe Mumsnet's best move is to move to a US host while continuing to fight to change UK laws.