PFA Looking at Forums for Player Defamation

PFA Looking at Forums for Player Defamation

see last bit.

http://www.goldcoast.com.au/article/2010/03/02/194015_gold-coast-soccer.html

United's fury at fake tweet

David Lewis | March 2nd, 2010

Coach Miron Bleiberg has followed Jason Culina in being the victim of a Gold Coast United identity theft saga on Twitter

GOLD Coast United is the latest A-League club to become embroiled in a Twitter identity theft saga prompting a Professional Footballers Association bid to clamp down on social networking websites.

Online impersonators have added coach Miron Bleiberg, midfielder Charlie Miller and striker Shane Smeltz to their hit-list on the popular site after a previous fake Jason Culina persona was shut down by Twitter administrators earlier in the season.

Though the often mindless babble of the bogus tweets is obviously erroneous to anybody but the most gullible, the PFA takes a dim view of identity misappropriation and is hunting down impostors with zeal.

Explaining players across all codes are being targeted, PFA chairman Brendan Schwab said several A-League players had had their personalities hijacked this season and any defamation could expose guilty parties to serious legal action.

"The legal avenues are opening up whereby that is now possible," he said.

"Anybody posing as a footballer who defames that player could face ramifications. That hasn't happened yet but it certainly could."

Schwab says Twitter have been responsive in removing sham identities from servers.

"Some of it is quite innocuous and might be purporting to be a personal conversation between a player and a coach," he added.

"It's erroneous and often relatively innocent but the bottom line is we take a strong view of any person trying to misappropriate the identity of a player. It's about protecting their privacy.

"These days players have to take every step possible to protect their reputations given the level of scrutiny they are under.

"It's imperative that no false stories are allowed to be generated through the social networking sites."

United chiefs were not immediately aware of the latest fraudulent tweets but also frown on the perpetrators, with the Culina case still fresh in the club's mind.

The PFA is also in pursuit of outspoken fans who defame players through the vehicle of internet message boards and forums, warning the same rules apply.

"People who post comments on forums need to be aware of these laws," added Schwab.

"Fans feel free to post venomous and personal criticism which could not pass as fair comment if it was written by a journalist and the same rules of defamation apply.

Boo hoo.

I wouldn't worry too much.

I still don't think much of David Mulligan.

They got rid of my ShaneSmeltzy account.

Brendan Schwab is a Pedo   

Where does NZ law stand on this? I'd imagine that since YF is located on an NZ server (or at least I assume it is), we'd be under NZ jurisdiction. And even then we'd be safe because we all know John Key is such a MASSIVE Phoenix supporter....

I'm not too worried. Apart from legitimate concerns such as misrepresentation, it sounds like a load of bull to me.

Well you could say a lot of people rubbishing a player on a supporters forum could be argued to potentially ruin his career with other clubs if they looked here for information on him (any club scouting Mulligan for example). It is a worry as it sets a terrible precedent.

Mulligan is a Pe-

Not much to worry about. Defamation has a very tight definition. Likely to be more targeting the nut jobs that hate a player enough to have a sustained campaign against them, calling them pe- ( ) etc...

Criticism of their playing ability cannot would get laughed out of court if it was ever brought up.