New Media: Old Complaint?
If you complain to your friends about your landlord, you might be called an unhappy tenant.
But if you complain to your friends about your landlord via Twitter, should you be called before a court of law?
In a case straight from the uncharted cyber-territory of social networking and personal responsibility, a Chicago renter is being sued by her former landlord for referring to her apartment as “moldy” in a message she sent to a friend. Because the renter transmitted the message using the micro-blogging service Twitter, her landlord accused her of “maliciously and wrongfully” defaming his company “throughout the world.”
The bitter Twitter battle was on, but the court of law was quickly eclipsed by the court of public opinion. “Foolhardy,” was the verdict from a Harvard media law expert, who said the landlord was “inviting a PR nightmare.”
The renter only had about 20 Twitter followers, so her tweet got no notice—until the landlord filed suit more than a month later. After a law blogger posted news of the court action, The Chicago Tribune picked up the blogger’s story, Twitter users spread it, Facebook, Digg, and StumbleUpon repeated it, TV and radio outlets followed, and by the end of one week, the tweet was heard ‘round the world in media reports in Russia, Australia, France, Italy, and Japan.
“You guaranteed that way more than 20 people will hear about your moldy apartments,” was typical of reader responses during the story’s mega-media trajectory.
The landlord—a property management company for 1,500 Chicago apartments—denied the mold allegation. Whether or not the landlord prevails in court, the case itself has raised numerous questions about personal responsibility and new media. “What is a tweet anyway?” asked the law blogger who originally broke the story. “Is it really considered publishing? Is it a conversation between friends in a public forum, like the electronic version of a coffeeshop, where you can gripe privately but have your gripes overheard? No one considers that defamation.”
Tell us what you think: Should new media be held to old media standards? If you post a negative comment online—like a product review—should you be sued? In the case of the renter and the landlord, did either of them get it right?
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(SHAME ON DISHONEST LANDLORDS), They Don't Live in
The owners are very wealthy major developers in New York collecting in rotation a magnitude of income drawn from these high rise complex units. This unlawful action taken against low-income tenants and many others living in those buildings are multi discriminating acts with prejudice under inhumane conditions against humanity. He is severely suffering from lung conditions caused by these toxins with those health and housing departments in NY not responding to get them out and relocated as requested by There specialist and other doctors.
It seems like their are corrupted lawyers working for both parties, failing systems and various NY housing and health departments neglecting those impaired like Ronald Stubbs.
Ronald has stated several people have died in his building complex due to several health hazards not being attended, and feel he is another dying victim awaiting to be removed on the expense of the complex owners and/or management company hired by owners.
RONALD STUBBS | 2 weeks, 1 day ago
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How should the law be applied
The question here is not about the supposedly moldy apartment, but about whether or not the landlord has a valid case against the renter. I am not a lawyer, nor do I pretend to know the law, but I have a feeling we will see more of this. In my opinion, this is a frivolous law suit, and the judge in charge should dismiss he case.
Marc DiLonardo | 1 week, 3 days ago
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A Mistake
It was a mistake for the Landlord to sue. I mean, tweeting to friends for the sake of just venting out one’s frustration is absolutely ok. These new technologies we have right now give us more ways than one to connect and reach out to one another. If the tweet or message is not defamatory, meaning there was NO deliberate intent of destroying someone’s reputation, then there is nothing wrong with it.
Joey Tayaban | 4 days, 12 hours ago
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