Ron Livingston Sues Wikipedia over Orientation

By: Omar Ha-Redeye · December 6, 2009 · Filed Under Entertainment Law, Media Law, Privacy, Technology · 2 Comments 

The most recent controversy around Wikipedia, and there are plenty to come I’m sure, surrounds Ron Livingston, an actor in Office Space who starred briefly in Sex in the City.  Well it’s Livingston’s sex, or rather his sexual orientation, that is at the center of a current dispute with Wikipedia.

Livingston married Rosmarie DeWitt last month, and yet his Wikipedia entry has been repeatedly vandalized to say that he is gay and living with a Lee Dennison.  He also claims that the same individual made Facebook pages for himself and Dennison and showed the the two in a relationship together.

TMZ states,

Livingston is suing for libel, invasion of privacy and for using his name and likeness without his permission.

Unlike blogs, which go through minimal editing and scrutiny, Wikipedia has a vigorous review process which includes questioning sources and the neutrality of a point of view.  The system seems to have worked, as the references to Livingston’s sexuality were repeatedly omitted.  The problem is that the reference was repeatedly re-entered.

Wikipedia does have controls for this as well, including how to deal with vandals and locking pages that have repeat problems.  We don’t know if this occurred yet, but Livingston could have contacted a Wikipedia editor to invoke these stronger protection mechanisms.  Any court reviewing the case should closely scrutinize the options that were available.

Blogs face a more difficult challenge.  We often try to ensure our accuracy by linking to our sources, and searching as best we can for conflicting opinions.  But especially in the field of law, information does change with new legal development and judicial decisions.  Posts are really only valid for the time-stamp when they are published.We do not benefit from the continuous and ongoing scrutiny of editors the way Wikipedia does.

For this reason, I rely on my readership to inform me when information needs to be updated.  In fact bloggers often depend on that, and most of us are usually willing to make necessary changes.  In case of litigation, we might find sanctuary under the evolving ‘public interest responsible journalism defence‘ described in the 2007 Ontario case of Cusson v. Ottawa Citizen and the 2006 House of Lord’s decision, Jameel v. Wall Street Journal Europe.

The wonderful thing about Wikipedia for the purposes of litigation is that everything is meticulously documented on the revision history and the talk page, including when and what changes were made, by whom, and the corresponding IP addresses.  Issues surrounding the pending litigation are even raised on the talk page among the editors, including the location of the IP addresses making the changes, and news stories about the issue.

One of the IP addresses involved in the Livingston changes also made similar revisions on December 2, 2009 to the page of Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed Al Maktoum of the royal family of Dubai, adding,

…as well as president for UAE LGBT conference as he is a known homosexual!.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.  But there’s no need to add personal information to Wiki entries, especially if they cannot be substantiated with an independent source, and may cause the person involves some personal harm.

In cases where the control features described above do not work, it may be appropriate to pursue litigation, possibly including the site in order to compel them to provide further information.

But the best strategy for celebrities, corporations, politicians and professionals, as I told a group of marketing professionals at a seminar earlier this week, is to mitigate any adverse impact by establishing a social media strategy yourself.

Online Reputation Management

View more presentations from Omar Ha-Redeye.
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Admissibility of Wikipedia

By: Contributor · September 11, 2008 · Filed Under Civil Rights, Evidence, Immigration Law, Technology · Add Comment 

A recent American case, Badasa v. U.S. discussed the use of Wikipedia by a Homeland Security official.

John Timmer at ArsTechnica provides background,

References to information at Wikipedia have shown up in various inappropriate places, from homework assignments to college term papers. But there’s one place that it seems everyone can agree that it doesn’t belong: the US court system. The US Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit, ruling in an immigration case, has agreed with the Board of Immigration Appeals in finding that a reliance on information in Wikipedia is insufficient grounds for a ruling. Nevertheless, it sent the case back to the Board, requesting that it clarify its decision.

The decision, filed late last week, stems from a case where an individual entered the country using a forged passport, and then applied for asylum based on the threat of torture if she were returned to her place of origin. Her application for asylum, and the processing of her case by the immigration courts, hinge on a personal identification document called a laissez-passer issued by the Ethiopian government.

Ryan Singel of Wired describes the decision,

Using the Wikipedia page as evidence, the government convinced an immigration judge that the document did not prove her identity, calling it a one-way travel document based on information provided by the applicant.

While the Board of Immigration Appeals subsequently said it didn’t “encourage the use of resources such as Wikipedia.com in reaching pivotal decisions in immigration proceedings,” it allowed the decision to stand since it couldn’t find any clear error.

The three-judge panel of the appeals court found that split decision disturbing. The court reiterated that anyone can edit Wikipedia and there’s no guarantee that the information on the page at the time the government officials looked at it had any correct information at all. The site may have misled and tainted government officials’ decisions in the case, the judges ruled:

The [Board of Immigration Appeals] presumably was concerned that Wikipedia is not a sufficiently reliable source on which to rest the determination that an alien alleging a risk of future persecution is not entitled to asylum. [...]

We do not know whether the [Immigration Judge] would have reached the same conclusion without Wikipedia, or whether (and, if so, why) the [Board of Immigration Appeals] believes that the IJ’s consideration of Wikipedia was harmless error, in the sense that it did not influence the IJ’s decision.

The decision also raises serious civil rights issues, if officers of Homeland Security are using sources like Wikipedia instead of training and briefings to guide their decisions.

It also raises the issue of lawyers being familiar with Wiki technology so that they can articulate and understand the editing process involved, and appropriate shortcomings and flaws.

h/t John Gregory on Slaw.

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