Judge Jamie S. Perri dismissed the case citing the 1996 Communications Decency Act , promoting free speech over the Internet. The act protects the provider of interactive computer services from liability for publishing content provided by another. At the start of the court action, Wikimedia asked the court to dismiss the case. "Wikimedia asks the Court to dismiss the claims against it, with prejudice. The claims against Wikimedia are frivolous because they are barred as a matter of law by the Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230( c) , "Section 230" or the "CDA"), by the First Amendment, and by New Jersey law. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia written by its users, the content of which can be created, edited, or removed by anyone. Before the case started, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) issued a press release that defends against a suit Bauer filed against Wikimedia which states that contributors on Wikipedia posted "libel statements" against Bauer that labeled her as number three on a list of twenty people grouped as the "worst" publishing agents, and included allegations that she had "no documented sales" through her firm. Complaints filed against her and her firm state that Bauer had a bad record when dealing with "commercial publishers,", and questioning her practice of, "charge[ing] in advance of making a sale, against the generally-accepted industry practice." In March of 2007, Wikimedia was named in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court of Monmouth , New Jersey, along with 20 other defendants which included operators of the Absolute Write web site and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America who authored the list. The deleted Wikipedia article on Bauer stated that she claims "to have placed books with a number of well-known commercial publishers, but does not provide specific details of the books in question. In 2006, due to the number of complaints they receive, Writer Beware (part of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America writers' organization) listed Bauer's agency as one of the twenty worst literary agencies." Wikipedia logo. Bauer's article was started on May 25, 2006 but was not deleted until March 21, 2008 by Wikipedia administrator and Wikimedia office employee Cary Bass, who was not able to comment on the incident. It underwent two requests to be deleted, with the second one passing, and it was subsequently deleted. It had first been deleted on March 25, 2007 by "Doc Glasgow", an administrator, amid allegations that the information presented in the article was "a bloody disgrace, full of 'allegations of who said what on message boards. No mainstream media interest." It was later restored on March 26 to undergo a "deletion review." It was then deleted just under one year later after an extensive discussion. The EFF, along with attorneys at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, are defending Wikimedia submitting a motion to dismiss the suit against the Foundation. The Foundation says that the First Amendment of the United States Bill of Rights and New Jersey law protect the contributors from any legal action. Wikimedia attorney, Mike Godwin Mike Godwin , attorney for the Foundation states that the point of Wikipedia is to return the knowledge it provides, to a worldwide culture. "I've been trying to keep 'Office actions' to a minimum (partly in reaction to some fairly heavy-handed WP:OFFICE stuff in the past), and it would be helpful to be able to say that any given action was taken by the community, not by the Foundation," said Godwin on Wikipedia's Administrators' noticeboard on May 2, the same day of the EFF's press release. 'Office actions' are changes directly authorized by the Foundation which are made to content on any of the Wikimedia projects. The edits are made by staff members working for the Foundation's head office located in San Francisco , California. Edits of this nature are generally "removals of questionable or illegal Wikimedia content following complaints," according to Wikipedia's policy on 'Office Actions.' Wikinews originally intended to publish an article at the start of the court case, although it was deleted from the article by Wikinews administrator Brian McNeil, who said that it was deleted "per consultation with Mike Godwin" as the posting of any material relating to Bauer, on Wikimedia sites, could be considered contempt of court. The deleted copy of this article was then leaked to Wikileaks , who released a press release saying that the Wikimedia Foundation censored Wikinews. At the time of this The Register reported that "Wikinews - like its sister site, Wikipedia - bills itself as a place without bias. Ostensibly, it's a democratic news source that never answers to a higher power. But that's just a setup for the latest act in the world's greatest online farce." The Register has a long history of denigrating Wikimedia projects.
Judge Jamie S. Perri dismissed the case citing the 1996 , promoting free speech over the Internet. The act protects the provider of interactive computer services from liability for publishing content provided by another. At the start of the court action, Wikimedia asked the court to dismiss the case. "Wikimedia asks the Court to dismiss the claims against it, with prejudice. The claims against Wikimedia are frivolous because they are barred as a matter of law by the , "Section 230" or the "CDA"), by the First Amendment, and by New Jersey law. Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia written by its users, the content of which can be created, edited, or removed by anyone. Before the case started, the (EFF) issued a press release that defends against a suit Bauer filed against Wikimedia which states that contributors on Wikipedia posted "libel statements" against Bauer that labeled her as number three on a list of twenty people grouped as the "worst" publishing agents, and included allegations that she had "no documented sales" through her firm. Complaints filed against her and her firm state that Bauer had a bad record when dealing with "commercial publishers,", and questioning her practice of, "charge[ing] in advance of making a sale, against the generally-accepted industry practice." In March of 2007, Wikimedia was named in a lawsuit filed in Superior Court of , New Jersey, along with 20 other defendants which included operators of the Absolute Write web site and the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America who authored the list. The deleted Wikipedia article on Bauer stated that she claims "to have placed books with a number of well-known commercial publishers, but does not provide specific details of the books in question. In 2006, due to the number of complaints they receive, Writer Beware (part of the writers' organization) listed Bauer's agency as one of the twenty worst literary agencies." Wikipedia logo. Bauer's article was started on May 25, 2006 but was not deleted until March 21, 2008 by Wikipedia administrator and Wikimedia office employee Cary Bass, who was not able to comment on the incident. It underwent two requests to be deleted, with the second one passing, and it was subsequently deleted. It had first been deleted on March 25, 2007 by "Doc Glasgow", an administrator, amid allegations that the information presented in the article was "a bloody disgrace, full of 'allegations of who said what on message boards. No mainstream media interest." It was later restored on March 26 to undergo a "deletion review." It was then deleted just under one year later after an extensive discussion. The EFF, along with attorneys at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton, are defending Wikimedia submitting a motion to dismiss the suit against the Foundation. The Foundation says that the of the United States and New Jersey law protect the contributors from any legal action. Wikimedia attorney, Mike Godwin , attorney for the Foundation states that the point of Wikipedia is to return the knowledge it provides, to a worldwide culture. "I've been trying to keep 'Office actions' to a minimum (partly in reaction to some fairly heavy-handed WP:OFFICE stuff in the past), and it would be helpful to be able to say that any given action was taken by the community, not by the Foundation," said Godwin on Wikipedia's Administrators' noticeboard on May 2, the same day of the EFF's press release. 'Office actions' are changes directly authorized by the Foundation which are made to content on any of the Wikimedia projects. The edits are made by staff members working for the Foundation's head office located in , California. Edits of this nature are generally "removals of questionable or illegal Wikimedia content following complaints," according to Wikipedia's policy on 'Office Actions.' Wikinews originally intended to publish an article at the start of the court case, although it was deleted from the article by Wikinews administrator Brian McNeil, who said that it was deleted "per consultation with Mike Godwin" as the posting of any material relating to Bauer, on Wikimedia sites, could be considered contempt of court. The deleted copy of this article was then leaked to , who released a press release saying that the Wikimedia Foundation censored Wikinews. At the time of this reported that "Wikinews - like its sister site, Wikipedia - bills itself as a place without bias. Ostensibly, it's a democratic news source that never answers to a higher power. But that's just a setup for the latest act in the world's greatest online farce." The Register has a long history of denigrating Wikimedia projects.
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Communications Decency Act
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Communications Decency Act (47 U.S.C. § 230( c)
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Electronic Frontier Foundation
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Monmouth
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Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America
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First Amendment
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Bill of Rights
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Mike Godwin
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San Francisco
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Wikileaks
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The Register