Gobbledock,
Sorry if my “libel post” has offended you, but my interest was sparked by the hint of a libel threat/action, so I Goggled “libel”, as I’m a total legal layman, and found out about the Libel laws for electronic media in Australia to inform myself and posted a link for any other interested PPRuNer users. I am aware that there was a recent successful action against an Australian blogger over statements made in a blog, which were incorrect about an individual. If you read the linked page in my previous post you'll find even the truth is not a defense in some cases, if the disclosure of facts is not in the public interest; that I personally found very interesting as I thought the truth is the ultimate defense; Twotbags quite accurately pointed that out to Bizzybody.
Your question about how someone could be identified if they used a public computer and avoided CCTV is an interesting one but I thought PPRuNe wouldn’t let you set up an account using services like Hotmail and possibly Gmail, so that we can all actually be identified if required. I do know that a person can be tracked down by a knowledgeable computer user, look at the recent case of the “Collar Bomb” offender; he was tracked to a public computer in his local library and an anonymous email address . I’d hazard a guess that, like me, most PPRuNer users use either personal or work computers to view and post on this forum, so identification of an individual is probably easy.
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Bizzybody has made a statement about individuals and their financial involvement in their company that I believe triggered the hint of legal action, not made a comment like “I believe or I’ve heard” or stated a negative opinion or comment like you and others have about JetGo, which you're entitled to do. So, that’s a bit of a difference in my opinion (only that of a legal layman) and reading the article/definitions on libel, it could be a prudent move to either retract it, or prove it, or apologise for it, as a “reasonable person” could form a negative opinion of the identified individuals and the subsequent post about meaning no harm to JetGo probably isn’t enough. JR was ID’d on the first page of this thread and anyone dealing with JetGo on a professional basis would know AM’s identity.
I'd guess there's real money on the line here and inflicting damage on some person or entity's reputation could cause them problems (financially or professionally) and ultimately the person making the offending statements, problems, should legal action be taken over the offending statements. I believe PPRuNe has in the past blocked posts about companies and individuals due to legal issues but I'm not sure if that is still happening.
However, it’s no problem of mine and maybe Bizzybody will either “put up or shut up” regarding his/her statement; I’ll be interested to see what happens.
Seaeagle109
“A man’s character is his fate” Heraclitus, 535-475BC.