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Message board abuser successfully sued

eCommerce News reports that American resident Sue Scheff has been awarded US$11.3 million in an Internet defamation lawsuit against fellow American Carey Bock, who called her a "crook," "con artist" and "fraud" on an Internet message board.

"What this verdict says is, you can't go and destroy someone's reputation and post defamatory statements about them over the Internet," said Scheff's attorney David Pollack.

A Broward County, Fla., jury has awarded a Weston, Fla., woman US$11.3 million in an Internet defamation lawsuit that legal experts say could spur more courtroom battles over what's said online.

Sue Scheff filed the lawsuit against Carey Bock in December 2003, after the Louisiana woman called her a "crook," "con artist" and "fraud" on an Internet message board for parents interested in alternative schools for troubled teens.

One message landed on the Broward County PTA Web site, calling Scheff's referral company for such parents "an old, old scam."

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Footnote: The US legal system is now for sale on Ebay, BIN $10 or ONO.

The Muppets - The Movie

Oops! Following my last post it appears US politicians have made a major faux-pas in their haste to prove to the Religious Right that they are worthy of their wvote!

With no chance of the US Act to prohibit online gambling going through before Mid-Term elections, future Presidential candidate Senator Frist took a small part of the original Act and tacked it onto a totally irrelevant "must pass" Bill, the "Ports Security" Bill. This flew through as expected with an amendment saying that Banks and Financial Institutions ahd 270 days to find ways of stopping their customers using their own money for online gambling.

All well and good, that's how US politics works (yes it is the 21st Century I know!). But in their haste to stop "problem gambling" - that's the claim - all the online gambling companies outside the US that are publically listed have pulled out of the USA. So what? Well the US politicians either don't understand problem gambling, or they don't care. A problem gambler will find a way to gamble and the legislation has ensured that a great number of the "safe" and properly regulated casinos and poker rooms are no longer available to them! Ooh that's sensible!

As if that wasn't enough, the liklihood now is that offshore payment processing companies will sring up and offer US citizens alternative methods for sending their monies to online casinos and poker rooms. Not all will be legit of course.

Frist got this one wildly wrong. But perhaps the real motivation lies elsewhere. The Religious vote is very important. Additionally, Harrahs, the mega-casino company that dominate Las Vegas have funded his campaign (www.opensecrets.org). Interesting.

So let's get this straight...Frist claims in his various speeches and essays n this act that gambling is morally unacceptable, but is happy to take money from a major casino operator? But he's taken the first steps to banning online gambling so that has to be a good thing. Oh but hang on...apparently the Act does not extend to online lotteries and horse racing. Clearly some forms of gambling are morally wrong, but not all.

Did I mention mid-term elections?

Sheesh. Land Of The Free my a**e!