On any given day, messages are posted on online chat site IceRed.com that would almost certainly result in a lawsuit if any traditional media outlet repeated them. People are accused of all manner of crimes and misadventures, real or fabricated.
In one forum, for example, a group of people claiming to be nurses at a local hospital gossip about the alleged sexual dalliances of a physician who is identified by name. Other discussions revolve around the incompetence and wrongdoing of everyone from celebrities to ex-lovers.
That IceRed has not been buried in a pile of lawsuits is due to a combination of factors, the most significant of which is that people are generally ignorant of their rights when it comes to being libelled. Libel law protects people equally online and offline, but there is a perception that because something happens on the Internet, a different set of rules apply, said Kate Fitzgerald, an Australia-based lawyer who deals with online law.
IceRed has been sued only once for allegedly defamatory statements made on the site. In that case, online trade-show services provider E-Silkroad Holdings alleged about a dozen libellous messages appeared on IceRed between October 2000 and March last year, when it was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market. The company claimed its share price was adversely affected by what was said.
After a change in management at E-Silkroad, the case stalled in its preliminary stages and company officials would not return messages. IceRed chief executive Tim Lam would say only the case was behind him.
If the case had proceeded it could have set an important precedent.