Laurence Godfrey (physics lecturer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dr. Laurence Godfrey (born 21 November 1952, London, England) established a legal precedent for libel on Usenet, in the landmark Godfrey v. Demon case.

In 1993 he and CERN colleague Phillip Hallam-Baker became immersed in a very public dispute on Usenet, which culminated in a libel action (settled out of court).

Godfrey was a regular and controversial contributor to the Usenet newsgroups, 'soc.culture.british' and 'soc.culture.canada'.

He launched a series of court cases to protect his reputation, including Godfrey v. Demon.

[edit] Libel Cases

1995, Godfrey v. Hallam-Baker
1997, Godfrey v. Demon Internet
1998, Godfrey v. Cornell University/Dolenga
1998, Godfrey v. University of Minnesota/Starnet/Quanchairut
1998, Godfrey v. Melbourne PC Users Group
(unknown) Godfrey v. New Zealand TeleCom
(unknown) Godfrey v. Toronto Star

[edit] Quotes

"I am happy with the settlement. I don't think there is a right, in fact I'm quite sure there's no right, to libel other people on the Internet, to concoct fabricated allegations and try to destroy people's reputations." [1]

"Forgive me for declining your invitation to dinner, but I am presently suffering from a rather severe case of asymptomatic anorexia."