From: Henry Huang <hwh6k@fulton.seas.virginia.edu>
Date: Sat, 9 Mar 1996 04:34:18 +0800
To: "Timothy C. May" <tcmay@got.net>
Subject: Re: Vexatious Litigants  (was: SurfWatch)
Message-ID: <199603081753.MAA65714@fulton.seas.Virginia.EDU>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


On Mar 7, 22:29, Timothy C. May wrote:
> At 2:38 AM 3/8/96, Bill Frantz wrote:
> >At  6:59 PM 3/7/96 -0800, Timothy C. May wrote:
> >>If SurfWatch can be sued for a "bad review," then Siskel and Ebert had
> >>better find a new line of work.
> >
> >As long as a reviewer corrects errors, as SurfWatch seems to be willing to
> >do, I think they are relativly suit-proof.  If they don't, well - anyone
> >can be sued for anything.  I'll let the lawyers comment on the possibility
> >of success.
>
> My point was that "opinions" (such as movie reviews) are not "tortable"
> (don't know the legal name), unless specific inaccuracies can be
> demonstrated, and even then it is hard. Siskel and Ebert have undoubtedly
> destroyed the box office prospects of many a movie with their "thumbs down"
> diss of death, but I know of no successful (or even adjudicated) lawsuits
> on this basis.

Thanks for the clarification.  However, this line of argument applies
only to "third-party" ratings systems.  Right now, Microsoft/RSAC/SurfWatch
and SafeSurf/Cybersitter/etc. are setting up competing standards which would
essentially force people to "self-rate" their own sites, or else be blocked
out by browsers configured to reject unrated sites (a feature Microsoft plans
to add to its Internet Explorer).

The question I have is if these systems were widely implemented, could
an Web page author or provider of content be sued for "mislabeling"
their page?  If so, under what circumstances?  Could the RSAC attach
legal requirements to the use of their system, and open up such a
loophole (similar to how Sun attaches conditions to the use of its
"Java" logo)?

If it's possible, the implications of this are pretty dire.  The RSAC
itself reports that many retailers refuse to stock software that's not
labeled according to their standards.  If Web sites were similarly
coerced into not only labeling their pages, but abiding by any arbitrary
conditions attached to *use* of those standards, things could get pretty
ugly.  Hell, who needs the Gov't when industry can censor more efficiently?

-H