 By Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Sunday, 25 February 2007 | |
| Prevented by law from suing Wikipedia, pro-golfer Fuzzy Zoeller is suing the owner of an IP address from where allegedly defamatory remarks were posted onto Wikipedia alleging that he abused drugs, alcohol and his family in what could set a precedent for online defamation cases. |
The offending paragraphs allegedly slandering Zoeller’s name were posted on December 20 2006, and have now been removed, but not before they were discovered, with Fuzzy Zoeller being named as ‘John Doe’ in the legal action that has subsequently been initiated to clear his name.
The IP address of the posts was traced back to education consulting firm Josef Silny & Associates of Miami, although Mr Silny says he is surprised that the complaint originated from his computer systems and doesn’t know who at his company might have made the offending Wikipedia posts.
Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit, although following previous instances where Wikipedia entries were defaced and edited with potentially defamatory information, with people previously affected by inaccurate Wikipedia entries including John Seigenthaler, a former assistant to Robert Kennedy, who was falsely accused of being a suspected participant in the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers, along with US politicians who have had their Wikipedia entries besmirched.
Following these incidents, security was beefed up to prevent these kinds of things from happening in the future. However despite the security upgrades which see some pages locked completely, users who earn the right to access files are still able to change pages that have remained unlocked, making the Wikipedia encyclopedia vulnerable to such defamation attacks or other inaccurate information.
According to the Associated Press, the following statement comes from paragraph 11 of the lawsuit and includes the alleged remarks: “Later (Mr. Doe) went public with his alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, explaining that at the time he made those statements, he was ‘in the process of polishing off a fifth of Jack (Daniels) after popping a handful of Vicodin pills’.”
The statement continues that: “He further detailed the violent nature of his disease, recalling how he’d viciously beat his wife Dianne and their four children while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. He also admitted feigning a ruptured spinal disc in 1985 so as to be prescribed a multitude of prescription medication. He has since sought professional help and mended his fractured familial relationships. In May 2006, (Mr. Doe) said in a interview with Golf Digest magazine that he hadn’t beaten his wife in nearly five years.”
These paragraphs have now been removed from Zoeller’s Wikipedia entry, with Silny mystified and engaging a computer consultant to conduct an internal investigation, while Wikipedia claim not to have been informed of the case until it hit the media.
Zoeller was previously the subject of embarrassment over remarks towards Tiger Woods, which cost him endorsement deals at the time, with Wikipedia listing the reported comments from the 1997 Masters regarding the championship dinner as:“Tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it? ... or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve”, which was reported to have the potential of being construed as racially discriminatory.
Fuzzy Zoeller files lawsuit over alleged Web site remarks of abuse
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Fuzzy Zoeller wants to protect his name and his family so he’s suing after false and defamatory remarks were made about him on Wikipedia, an Internet reference site.
A lawsuit under an alias of “John Doe” was filed in Miami against a Miami law firm for remarks that alleged that the 1979 Masters Champion abused drugs, alcohol and his family.
Zoeller confirmed to the Daily News on Thursday following his pro-am round at the ACE Group Classic that he is the “John Doe” of the lawsuit. Zoeller, who is a member at Naples National Golf Club, said he didn’t want to comment any further about the case.
By law, Zoeller can’t sue Wikipedia, which describes itself as “the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.” Wikipedia allows readers to correct and change factual errors. The lawsuit contends that when a Wikipedia Web-page is edited in any way, the person making the change is identified in the Web-page history by either a username or by the Internet Protocol address or I.P. address of the computer being used to make the change.
Zoeller’s attorney, Scott D. Sheftall, told the Associated Press that the suit alleges that someone used a computer at Josef Silny & Associates, a Miami education consulting firm, to add the information to Zoeller’s Wikipedia profile.
“Courts have clearly said you have to go after the source of the information,” Sheftall said. “The Zoeller family wants to take a stand to put a stop to this. Otherwise, we’re all just victims of the Internet vandals out there. They ought not to be able to act with impunity.”
According to the lawsuit filed in the 11th Judicial Court on Feb. 13, the defendant vandalized Mr. Doe’s Wikipedia profile for a particular I.P. address by causing the following false and defamatory to paragraph to be appended to Mr. Doe, who has now been confirmed to be Zoeller.
The following statement comes from paragraph 11 of the lawsuit and includes the alleged remarks: “Later (Mr. Doe) went public with his alcoholism and prescription drug addiction, explaining that at the time he made those statements, he was ‘in the process of polishing off a fifth of Jack (Daniels) after popping a handful of Vicodin pills’. He further detailed the violent nature of his disease, recalling how he’d viciously beat his wife Dianne and their four children while under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. He also admitted feigning a ruptured spinal disc in 1985 so as to be prescribed a multitude of prescription medication.
He has since sought professional help and mended his fractured familial relationships. In May 2006, (Mr. Doe) said in a interview with Golf Digest magazine that he hadn’t beaten his wife in nearly five years.”
The paragraphs have been removed.
Josef Silny was shocked to learn his company was targeted in the lawsuit, according to the Associated Press.
“I can’t imagine anybody doing that,” Silny said. “This is completely out of left field.”
He has asked his computer consultant to investigate the complaint.
Zoeller sued under the alias “John Doe” to protect his privacy. The lawsuit was first reported by The Miami Herald.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told AP that no one has contacted the site about the lawsuit. He said volunteer editors are aggressive about cleaning up inaccuracies reported to the site.
“We try to police it pretty closely, but people do misbehave on the Internet,” Wales said.
The lawsuit contends that the Web posting caused damage to Zoeller’s reputation, mental anguish, loss of income in the past and earning capacity in the future.
The current Wikipedia entry about Zoeller includes the famous quote he made about Tiger Woods at the 1997 Masters. The remark concerning the champions dinner — “Tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it? ... or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve” — did cost Zoeller endorsement deals and embarrassment.
