[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-1-en-105":3,"doc-seo-280320-105":53,"doc-detail-280320-en":126},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,14,19,24,29,34,39,44,49],{"id":8,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":11,"show_sort_weight":12,"slug":13},11,1,"Template","Presentations",90,"presentations",{"id":15,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":16,"show_sort_weight":17,"slug":18},12,"Resumes",80,"resumes",{"id":20,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":21,"show_sort_weight":22,"slug":23},14,"Invoices",70,"invoices",{"id":25,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":26,"show_sort_weight":27,"slug":28},15,"Posters",60,"posters",{"id":30,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":31,"show_sort_weight":32,"slug":33},16,"Social Media",50,"social-media",{"id":35,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":36,"show_sort_weight":37,"slug":38},17,"Forms",40,"forms",{"id":40,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":41,"show_sort_weight":42,"slug":43},18,"Letters",30,"letters",{"id":45,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":46,"show_sort_weight":47,"slug":48},21,"Paper Templates",5,"papers-templates",{"id":50,"doc_module":9,"doc_module_name":10,"category_name":51,"show_sort_weight":4,"slug":52},158,"General","general-158",{"code":4,"msg":54,"data":55},"ok",{"site_id":56,"language":57,"slug":58,"title":59,"keywords":60,"description":61,"schema_data":62,"social_meta":119,"head_meta":121,"extra_data":123,"updated_unix":125},105,"en","reputation-in-a-networked-world-revisiting-the-social-foundations-of-defamation-law","Reputation in a Networked World - Revisiting the Social Foundations of Defamation Law","","Revisiting defamation law in a networked information economy, the article analyzes why reputation-protection doctrines fall short of their stated goals. It uses a hypothetical actor scenario and real-world concerns about litigation cost, time, speech and public perception, and the persistence of online misinformation. The discussion argues that reputation is a public good emerging from social interactions, so remedies limited to monetary damages overlook broader societal interests and harms.",{"@graph":63,"@context":118},[64,80,101],{"@type":65,"itemListElement":66},"BreadcrumbList",[67,71,74,77],{"item":68,"name":69,"@type":70,"position":9},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":72,"name":10,"@type":70,"position":73},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/",2,{"item":75,"name":51,"@type":70,"position":76},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/general/",3,{"item":78,"name":59,"@type":70,"position":79},"https://docshare.wps.com/template/reputation-in-a-networked-world-revisiting-the-social-foundations-of-defamation-law/280320/",4,{"url":78,"name":59,"@type":81,"image":82,"author":87,"headline":59,"publisher":90,"fileFormat":93,"inLanguage":57,"description":61,"dateModified":94,"datePublished":95,"encodingFormat":93,"isAccessibleForFree":96,"interactionStatistic":97},"DigitalDocument",{"url":83,"@type":84,"width":85,"height":86},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/reputation-in-a-networked-world-revisiting-the-social-foundations-of-defamation-law/280320.png","ImageObject",442,249,{"name":88,"@type":89},"Lute","Person",{"url":68,"name":91,"@type":92},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-23","2026-09-16",true,{"@type":98,"interactionType":99,"userInteractionCount":9},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":100},"ViewAction",{"@type":102,"mainEntity":103},"FAQPage",[104,110,114],{"name":105,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":107},"Why does the article argue that defamation law fails to protect reputation effectively?","Question",{"text":108,"@type":109},"It argues that existing doctrines rely almost exclusively on financial remedies that do not account for societal interests and do not adequately correct inaccurate information in networked settings.","Answer",{"name":111,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":112},"What is the role of reputation according to the article?",{"text":113,"@type":109},"Reputation is presented as a public good and an emergent property of social interactions, serving a signaling function that communicates an individual’s information and social standing.",{"name":115,"@type":106,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How does the Internet change the way reputation is preserved and spreads?",{"text":117,"@type":109},"Global communication networks make reputation more enduring yet more ephemeral by keeping information easily retrievable, searchable, and semantically linked long after it is created.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":78,"og:type":120,"og:title":59,"og:site_name":91,"og:description":61},"article",{"robots":122,"canonical":78},"index,follow",{"doc_id":124,"site_id":56},280320,1790203852,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":127},{"doc_id":124,"user_id":128,"nickname":88,"user_avatar":129,"doc_module":9,"category_id":50,"category_name":51,"doc_title":59,"doc_description":61,"doc_content":130,"file_id":131,"file_url":132,"file_type":133,"file_size":134,"view_count":73,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":9,"is_downloadable":9,"audit_status":9,"page_count":135,"language":136,"language_code":57,"site_id":56,"html_lang":57,"table_of_contents":137,"faqs":138,"seo_title":139,"seo_description":61,"update_tm":140,"read_time":141},137454149569,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_29158cc5080c5b710cf443261637dec0","Reputation in a Networked World: Revisiting the Social Foundations of Defamation Law  \nDavid S. Ardia*  \nINTRODUCTION  \nImagine that you are a moderately successful actor named Ron Livingston, having starred in the cult hit Office Space. On your return from your honeymoon, your publicist calls you to say that someone edited your Wikipedia entry to falsely state that you are in a gay relationship with a casting director you have never heard of before. You do not see any problem with being gay, but you are concerned that it might reduce your chances of landing another acting job in Hollywood. You want the information removed, and you think a defamation lawsuit might be the best solution.1  \nFiling a lawsuit, however, raises some obvious concerns. Defamation suits are complex and take a long time to litigate. You are not certain you will win, given that society’s view of being homosexual is changing. If you file a lawsuit, will the public perceive you as homophobic and an enemy of free speech? Do people believe what they read on Web sites such as Wikipedia, especially when the source is anonymous? Even if you do win, won’t the information likely still reside somewhere in the dark corners of the Internet? In the end, is anyone going to know or care that a court in Los Angeles has found the person liable for defamation?  \nUsing Mr. Livingston’s case as a lens through which to examine defamation law’s operation in our increasingly networked society, this article argues that defamation law suffers from significant doctrinal and practical limitations that preclude it from achieving its goal of protecting reputation. Cognizant of these limitations, it offers some guidelines for reforming defamation law, suggesting that existing monetary remedies should be deemphasized while alternative approaches that seek to correct inaccurate information and provide opportunities for contextualization should be emphasized.  \n* Resident Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Helpful feedback was provided by Fernando Bermejo, Jack Goldsmith, Donnie Hao Dong, MaryRose Papandrea, Hal Roberts, Carolina Rossini, Wendy Seltzer, and members of the YaleHarvard-MIT Cyberscholars Working Group. Valuable research assistance was provided by David O’Brien.  \n1 This scenario is predominately based on a recent lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court. See Coupleguys, Inc. v. John Doe, No. BC-427389 (L.A. Super. Ct. filed Dec. 4, 2009) . The complaint in the case was filed by Coupleguys, Inc.,“a ‘loan-out’ corporation that furnishes the professional services of Ron Livingston in the entertainment industry.” Id. at 2.  \n262 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review [Vol. 45  \nIt is time again to rethink defamation law.2 The law we know today saw its origin in feudal times, expanded to serve as a counterweight to the disruption occasioned by the printing press, and was constitutionalized by the Supreme Court in the low-participation age of broadcast and print mass media. The journalistic institutions that led the fight for constitutional reform are now in decline while online platforms optimized for high participation, such as blogs, social networks, and discussion forums, are in ascendency. In this age of the “networked information economy,”3 reputation occupies avery different role in the social order than it did even twenty years ago.  \nExisting legal doctrines that seek to protect reputation do so by providing remedies—almost exclusively financial—that account for injuries to the affected individual without regard to societal interests. Yet injuries to reputation are not borne exclusively, or even primarily, by the affected individual. In many ways, reputation is a quintessential public good. We cannot have a reputation except insofar as it is created in cooperation with others and relative to our relationships with them.4 Reputation is an emergent property of these interactions. It serves an important signaling functio","cbCaiiRs9laxu5jk","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiiRs9laxu5jk","pdf",360440,68,"English","# Introduction\n## Rethinking defamation law in a networked world\n## Reputation as a public good\n## Internet effects on reputation","[{\"question\":\"Why does the article argue that defamation law fails to protect reputation effectively?\",\"answer\":\"It argues that existing doctrines rely almost exclusively on financial remedies that do not account for societal interests and do not adequately correct inaccurate information in networked settings.\"},{\"question\":\"What is the role of reputation according to the article?\",\"answer\":\"Reputation is presented as a public good and an emergent property of social interactions, serving a signaling function that communicates an individual’s information and social standing.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the Internet change the way reputation is preserved and spreads?\",\"answer\":\"Global communication networks make reputation more enduring yet more ephemeral by keeping information easily retrievable, searchable, and semantically linked long after it is created.\"}]","Reputation in a Networked World - Revisiting the Social Foundations of Defamation Law | PDF",1789536861,24]