The saga of the Left Link diatribe continues unabated. The page we put up on Monday exposing the links between the loony left and the Labor party appears to be drawing some success as one of the moderators and sponsor of the mailing lists Marg Hutton starts firing blanks.
Here is a post she sent out to one of her "mailing lists" appealing for a lawyer to give her presumably "free" advise because she feels that she may have been defamed in my page.
Now let's get this into perspective. Left Link is the on-line communication vehicle for Labor's loony left and fringe groups who were largely responsible for preventing Australians the right to free speech and causing violence in Hawthorn. Under the 1914 Commonwealth Laws people who play a role in preventing lawful political rallies to proceed could find themselves behind bars for three years.
For the record I deny that the page posted is "the original" and editing by those copying and subsequently posting it should be taken into account. Some details have been erased to protect the person providing this post.
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1998 13:46:26 +1000 (EST)
From: Marg Hutton mhutton@melb.alexia.net.au
To: axxx list
Subject: Query: Libel in cyberspace?
Elizabeth Shannon suggested that I post this to the list as some Ausfem-Polnetters may be interested to hear what has been happening...
I am involved in the Leftlink list (having set it up and moderated it for the first two years). Last week a couple of messages were posted on the list regarding Sunday's rally in Hawthorn where Pauline Hanson was booked to speak.
Yesterday, as a result of these messages, Scott Balson, the webmaster of the official One Nation website put up a page on his site (which he also linked to from the One Nation site) naming me and four other people involved with Leftlink as being the organisers of the rally along with our email addresses and in some cases, with links to our work places. (There's a certain irony in this given One Nation's response to the publication of the names of some of its members in the Australia-Israel Review.)
For those who are interested, Balson's page can be found at: http://www.gwb.com.au/gwb/news/onenation/left/meljul98.html
I should point out however, that this is a modified version of the original. The original (and in my opinion more defamatory) page can be found at: http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~baitoven/interlink/original.html
My main reason in posting this on Ausfem is in the hopes that there maybe a lawyer on this list willing and able to advise as to whether or not Balson's page is defamatory with suggestions on the best way to respond.
Marg Hutton
mhutton@melb.alexia.net.au
------------------- Subject: Correction:Query: Libel in cyberspace?
Sender: xxxx list I should have mentioned that the second web site that I gave in my previous message is a mirror site that one of the LL moderators has put up of the original message that appeared on Scott Balson's site. (Balson has been changing it by the hour). But the message as it first appeared on Balson's site can be found at: http://www.progsoc.uts.edu.au/~baitoven/interlink/original.html
Marg Hutton mhutton@melb.alexia.net.au ---------------------