Speaking to a an associate
professor from one of Nanjing's Universities, who has filed a lawsuit on the
grounds of libel, SUN Fengjin, responsible for providing web log service in
China commented "The blog itself has not violated the posted regulations,
and now shall not delete any user posts," in an interview yesterday with
a journalist from the morning edition [Dongfang Morning Edition].
CAUSE
Anonymous
Blogger rebukes accuser as "rotten person, rotten teaching
materials"
In September of this year,
while Nanjing University Professor Chen looked online for circumstances where
written works require citation, he discovered on China Blog (www.blogcn.com) a
webpage from an individual using the nickname "Long Stockings."
There he found an entry posted in June entitled "rotten person,
rotten teaching materials." The
post included "tomorrow is Professor Chen so-and-so's lesson (note: The
original text used the real name of Professor Chen)... as such, I’ve decided to read his book;
though after reading one page my brain retains no impression whatsoever...
Chen so-and-so is really tedious as expected, and from reading the book he
wrote, one can see that in general it contains no logical words whatsoever.
Every time he summarizes a topic he does not classify the argument
according to logic... he's really just a good-for-nothing.
No wonder he cannot remember anything, his really is the most rotten
teaching material."
THE
ACCUSER
The
ultimate objective is to make more websites understand that they cannot exceed
the legal privileges and become a tool used to damage other people's legal
interests.
Considering the content,
the webpage is likely the construction of one of Chen's students; but there is
no way to definitively determine who exactly is responsible. Though Professor
Chen contacted China Blog and demanded they delete the posting, the website
would not do so without Chen first providing material verifying the user's
identity. Because of inconsistent
opinions, the article remained on the website.
Chen believes the fact that
the website took his name and denounced him as a “rotten person, [with]
rotten materials,” “simply a good-for-nothing,” constitutes a serious
violation of his honor and reputation. [Chen believes] the Chinese blog did
not fulfill their responsibility to monitor the blog, and in allowing the
article to remain posted for such a long time caused grave mental anguish.
He has subsequently taken his case to Nanjing Drum Tower District Court
to demand that China Blog immediately cease future encroachment on others'
rights, issue a formal public apology, remove the slanderous words, and make
reparations for mental anguish in the sum of 10,000 Yuan.
Chen expressed that his
objective for suing is, in part, to make China Blog stop violating [other
people's] rights, saying he wants to "make more websites understand that
they cannot exceed the legal privileges and become a tool used to damage other
people's legal interests." In
reality, because "we cannot say where the boundary for freedom of speech
on the internet lies," it is difficult to come to a straight conclusion.
Moreover, since 'blogs' currently have the capacity to either allow the
public to browse through information freely or restrict access by setting up
password registration, this case has caused widespread interest.
THE
ACCUSED
Registered
website users have the right to freely publish articles online, provided that
there is no reactionary or pornographic content involved.
As such, we have no grounds or right to delete [the posted content].
Yesterday afternoon, the
webmaster in charge of China Blog's user service division, SUN Feng Jin, told
a Dongfang Morning Edition reporter that they had not yet received any notification
from the Court of a lawsuit or subpoena of any sort.
"We cannot delete this web entry at the current time because there
are no grounds to do so," said SUN.
"Registered
website users have the right to freely publish articles online, provided that
there is no reactionary or pornographic content involved.
As such, we have no grounds or right to delete [the posted content].
Furthermore, Professor Chen has not, according to online registration
requirements, provided any written materials proving his personal identity, or
proving that the person identified in the online posting was him."
Yesterday, an employee with the China Internet Association said that
the right to delete postings belongs to the individual, and the Association
maintains a duty only to warn a member organization and cannot coerce them [to
take action]. Moreover, China Blog
is not a member organization, such that the Association is powerless in this
case.
LEGAL EXPERT
For example say a person is hit
by a car while walking on the road. He
should investigate and open a case on the owners of all the cars responsible,
but not the owners of the road.
Director Chen of Jiangsu Delta Law Firm advised that, firstly, Chen
should charge the person responsible for the posting as the defendant:
"If a person is hit by a car while walking on the road, he should
investigate and open a case on the owners of all the cars responsible, and not
the owners of the road." A
lawyer from Jiangsu De Yong Heng Law Firm, MENG Lan Kai, said this [case]
touches upon the problematic clash between [one's] right to privacy and
[citizens'] Constitutional rights. Freedom
of speech is endowed to citizens through the Constitution.
Users who post on online blogs are realizing their freedom of speech.
As websites are a platform for conducting open discussion, [individuals
other than the registered user] should not be allowed to delete content only
on whim, but should only delete content in which there is clear intent to
curse and attack [someone]. "However,
the measure for making this type of judgment is not readily evident, and
perhaps does not correlate to the detailed rules and regulations stipulated in
legal statutes."
It is reported that the Court will call to order a hearing in the next few
days to try this case.
BLOGS
Blogs are a form of network
journaling. Blog users who have
sucessfully applied for registry to have their own webpage, once they have
obtained their own webpage, are free to pass on articles and express their
viewpoints as they wish in a journal-like format.
These journal-style articles have already become either available for
public browsing or through password-restricted access.
In June, 2003, China Blog (blogcn.com) user Muzimei posted a sexual journal, thus soliciting a great number of
visitors [to the site]. From then
on, the term "blogger" became one of the hottest keywords used in online search
engines.
Source: Dongfang Morning Edition
