cyberSLAPP

(CYBER Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) A lawsuit designed to prevent free expression. A cyberSLAPP is the Internet version of a SLAPP, which was coined in the 1996 book "SLAPPs: Getting Sued for Speaking Out" by George Pring and Penelope Canan. The cyberSLAPP lawsuit is filed by a person or company against the publisher of a blog, social media post or online article that contains opposing views or criticism. By creating perpetual legal delays after initiation, a cyberSLAPP is often used to intimidate or bankrupt the defendant even if there is no chance of ever winning the case. See Internet troll and patent troll.

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Internet troll

References in periodicals archive ?

Spencer, Cyberslapp Suits and John Doe Subpoenas: Balancing Anonymity and Accountability in Cyberspace, 19 J.

9) Legitimate cybersmear cases and illegitimate cyberSLAPPs are both filed as defamation claims and can appear indistinguishable at first glance, making it difficult to balance one person's right to speak anonymously against another person's right to protect his or her reputation against defamation.

15) In analyzing cyberSLAPPs, however, this Note will advocate for robust antiSLAPP laws to protect anonymous political speech against powerful interests.

CyberSLAPPs are the latest incarnation of SLAPPs, which are frivolous lawsuits masquerading as defamation cases brought against someone who speaks out on a matter of public concern.

CyberSLAPPs are filed by public figures or corporations against anonymous online posters and carry, along with the goal of silencing the poster, the additional goal of identifying them.

Maintaining the mask of the First Amendment: procedural and legislative approaches to protecting anonymous online speech

A CyberSLAPP subpoena threatens to deprive John Doe of

is particularly troublesome because many cyberSLAPP plaintiffs

so-called CyberSLAPPs (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation)

This is a special acknowledgement to CyberSLAPPs, a type of lawsuit

Compulsory process in cyberspace: rethinking privacy in the social networking age

Spencer, Note, Cyberslapp Suits and Jon Doe Subpoenas: Balancing

Bullies in a wired world: the impact of cyberspace victimization on adolescent mental health and the need for cyberbullying legislation in Ohio

For an extensive list of American cyber-SLAPP cases, see cyberSLAPP.

The medium is not the message: reconciling reputation and free expression in cases of Internet defamation