Laurence Godfrey (physics lecturer)
Encyclopedia
Dr. Laurence Godfrey established a legal precedent for libel on Usenet
, in the landmark Godfrey v Demon Internet Service case.
colleague Phillip Hallam-Baker became immersed in a very public dispute on Usenet, which culminated in a libel action (settled out of court in Godfrey's favour).
Godfrey was a regular and controversial presence to the Usenet newsgroups, 'soc.culture.british', 'soc.culture.canada', "soc.culture.german" and "soc.culture.thai". His main topics of discourse there were the perceived and real shortcomings of the inhabitants of those countries.
He launched a series of court cases including Godfrey v Demon Internet Service. Godfrey has used Britain's strict libel laws to bring successful libel actions, suing in British courts a number of organizations based in other countries, including Cornell University
and the University of Minnesota
.
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
, in the landmark Godfrey v Demon Internet Service case.
History
In 1993 he and CERNCERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
colleague Phillip Hallam-Baker became immersed in a very public dispute on Usenet, which culminated in a libel action (settled out of court in Godfrey's favour).
Godfrey was a regular and controversial presence to the Usenet newsgroups, 'soc.culture.british', 'soc.culture.canada', "soc.culture.german" and "soc.culture.thai". His main topics of discourse there were the perceived and real shortcomings of the inhabitants of those countries.
He launched a series of court cases including Godfrey v Demon Internet Service. Godfrey has used Britain's strict libel laws to bring successful libel actions, suing in British courts a number of organizations based in other countries, including Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
and the University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota
The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
.
Libel Cases
- 1995, Godfrey v. Hallam-Baker
- 1997, Godfrey v. Demon Internet
- 1998, Godfrey v. Cornell UniversityCornell UniversityCornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
/Dolenga - 1998, Godfrey v. University of MinnesotaUniversity of MinnesotaThe University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
/Starnet/Quanchairut - 1998, Godfrey v. Melbourne PC Users Group
- (unknown) Godfrey v. New Zealand TeleCom
- (unknown) Godfrey v. Toronto Star
External links
- Cornell University & Minnesota cases story from 1998
- New Scientist article freelance writing from 1992
- Observer (UK national newspaper) article about Laurence Godfrey from 2000
- Recent case in which Laurence Godfrey acted as expert/ technical consultant, his main occupation since 2001.