Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Online "speech" help request re: l33t

This is kind of specific, so it's possible that there's nothing out there, but I figured we have such a diverse group of people/experiences here that it was worth a try to ask.

I'm working on a problem for law school - all fake facts, don't worry, there's no confidentiality involved. Specifically, it has to do with defamation, but the kicker is that the defamatory statement was "said" in l33t (leet) on a Facebook wall.

Part of the issue is to whether there was actual publication - you have to prove that someone actually read the allegedly defamatory statement and understood it.

The side I'm assigned is that no, it wasn't published. So as part of it, I wanted to make the point that when this statement was said in l33t on a facebook wall, it's pretty clear from the entire set of circumstances that it was tongue-in-cheek and therefore, no, the reader did NOT understand it as defamatory - he understood it, if at all, as a joke.

Everything I can find online is about leet as evolved from computer gaming, about how people disagree with what constitutes leet (is lol leet, or only t@1k1ng w1th subst1tut3d ch@r@cters?), etc.

Does anyone know of any computer/internet related sources - even magazines would be okay, doesn't have to be scholarly work - that would support this idea that outside the gaming forum (and perhaps even there), comments in l33t are understood to be tongue-in-cheek/satire/made in jest?

Thanks!

Bethy

Not being an attorney, I don't know, but it seems to me that the same precepts which apply to blogs would apply to a Facebook wall. After all, according to that Verizon commercial, everybody can see what's written on someone's wall. And wouldn't the same principles which govern graffiti govern the Facebook writing?

Just my tuppence. May not apply, since statutes differ from state to state. In fact, there may not even be any case law covering this in your state.

Hope this helps.

I don't know of any magazines, but I do have a question out of curiosity. In the assignment, does the reader understand l33t speak at all to know that they were insulted? I just wondered if he/she spoke it to begin with because as a gamer (and knowing my friends), none of my non-gamer friends would even comprehend that l33t speak is even a language let alone bother to decipher it.

At least on my gaming server I would conjecture most raiders don't talk in jest when they open their mouths in l33t, but the rest of us know enough to roll our eyes and ignore them. (I'm pretty sure about 75% of the conversations are raiders calling each other n00bs. :p )

Fascinating problem!
JD