Forum Moderators: rogerd
Eagle Broadband, Inc. ...announced today that the company has filed a lawsuit ... alleging that these defendants have distributed false, fraudulent and misleading misinformation on Internet message boards in an effort to damage Eagle's business and its shareholders, and to drive down the value of its stock in order to reap profits for themselves.The fraudulent and misleading information distributed by these defendants has been posted on widely visited financial Internet message boards including Yahoo! Finance, Raging Bull and others.
The article goes on to name twenty five nicknames used, and said they may sue additional people.
<edit> I googled it and found the article.
Too funny.
Actually, it's not.
During the tech market bubble there were any number of con artists who employed 100s if not 1000s of screen names on Yahoo and other message boards in an effort to "pump and dump" stocks. The SEC doesn't take such practices lightly. The SEC [sec.gov] even went after a 15 year old who managed to make a lot of money in the market whilst playing the message board game. Not everyone is suffciently skilled to manage to hide their IP address every time. (Bear in mind that even amongst anonymous/open proxy servers a large number of them are actually honey pots, meant to capture information.)
There also have been prior lawsuits brought along these very same lines as the article mentions. Whether it's libel or deception it's actionable. For the individual engaging in the practice all the message board system provides is the misguided idea that a combination of anonymous posting + something akin to "free speech rights" will shield them.
Very untrue. The forum operator may have some protection, if they don't actively participate, but not the individual wrongdoer.
I'd add that filing suit against unknown "John Does" is the necessary legal step to getting the court to compel the forum, ISPs, etc. to disclose identifying information.
