Whether Instant Messaging Can Lead to Defamation

Instant messaging or "IM" a technology permitting users to send and receive text messages to one or multiple parties without a time delay between sending and receipt of the message is a powerful tool. Using this technology is similar to having a conversation with another person; just like that person was in the room with you. The difference is that the two or more people may be several miles or even continents apart. The benefit of this technology would seem to be obvious, in that a conversation can take place much like one were on a telephone, but without the long distance fees. However, this "IM" technology can also lead to great liability for those who take advantage of its electronic conversation capabilities.

Like conversation, instant messaging is a simultaneous give-and-take of messages, but it occurs in text form. It is very possible that a person can make a statement to another person, where the statement concerns the other person and the statement is false. If such a situation occurred in a room where the two people were the only ones in the room, it might be emotionally hurtful, but not legally defamation. However, what would be the result if a third person were either part of the conversation or simply watching the screen, of the receiving party when the statement was made. Lets further assume the statement dealt with a person's professional reputation. Even if such a statement was not considered written as a result of the intended private communication, such a statement could conceivably be defined as slander per se.

Slander is defined as 'the speaking of base or defamatory words which tend to prejudice another in his reputation, office, trade, business, or means of livelihood.' Long v. Vertical Technologies, Inc., 113 N.C. App. 598, 601, 439 S.E.2d 797, 800 (1994). Slander per se arises when the false remarks in themselves may form the basis of an action for damage in which both malice and damage are presumed as a matter of law. Id.

The issue to consider is whether a reasonable person's expectation of privacy using a web-based system that is intended as a two-person form of communication, is reasonable? To take it one step further, should a person have the expectation that no other person is viewing the conversation, without specifically asking the question to the other person, "are you alone"? If the answer is that a person should not reasonably expect the conversation to be viewed only be the sender and recipient, then perhaps the publication element of defamation can be made.

An instant messaging provider typically maintains instant messaging systems, and a client-side application is usually accessed through a small window on the computer desktop that remains open when the instant messaging program is running. Instant messaging systems use several different and unique methods to deliver text messages on two or more users computers at the same time. The most commonly used system is a centralized network, which connects multiple users to a series of servers (large computes that connect to each other).

The servers transmit each text message through the centralized network until it is dispatched to the intended recipient's computer. The systems that work in this way, centrally store user data, including user names settings, passwords and your favorite friends. There are many publicly accessible instant-messaging systems that use this method including AOL, Yahoo and MSN Messenger.

Source by Michael A. Goldstein