Conclusions

In the last decade, Internet is a booming new communication medium with enormous growth of worldwide applications. In this free online world, people can express their opinion easily, exchange information speedily, and there are no borders or limitations. However, all this freedom does not mean that users can arbitrarily publish materials that harm the reputations of others. Though there is not yet any global treaties or policies that regulation online defamation, there are laws in different countries that prohibit online defamation just as "offline" defamations. The laws of defamation work the same way for each communication medium and every defamatory material on the Internet is governed by the same principles from the law of tort (Canham, 2002).

However, online defamation is far more complicated than offline defamation. One of the major concerns is the issue of anonymity on the Internet. Investigations and tracing need more time and efforts and involve a number of parties such as ISPs. It is also true that in the world of Internet, there are too many channels and outlets that users can violate the law accidentally or intentionally. Simple as sending an email, a user must ensure that what was written or attached was not offensive or defamatory before he or she hits the "send" or "forward" button.

Since the Internet has only developed for around a decade, specific laws concerning online defamation were not made until recently. The same situation is also true in the public awareness on this matter. The awareness of online defamation is high while it is relatively low in other countries. As a result, some countries have specific laws and regulations concerning online defamation while some countries do not and only apply traditional laws to online defamation in the same way as offline defamation. For instance, In the U.S., there are already many cases of online defamation lawsuits and laws that clarify related issues such as liability of ISPs. In China, there are also unexpectedly many cases which reflected the enormous growth of Internet usage. However, the related law in China is incomplete and some controversial issues such as ISPs' liability are not yet covered. In Hong Kong, though Internet development is also blooming, there are not as many cases and references as in China. The public and legal awareness should be enhanced in order to tackle with the possibly increasing cases in the future.

The conceptual framework and philosophy of different legal systems can be very different. As a result, another question arouse due to the borderless nature of Internet communications: the multi-jurisdiction issue. Until a global treaty is created and accepted by most countries, site owners and ISPs should remain cautious that they did not violate the laws of the foreign jurisdiction that their business might have been involved.

After all, the most effective measure to avoid being sued of online defamation is responsible self regulation. As an ordinary Internet user, we should "think twice" before writing about something controversial and remember that it is not totally order-less nor anarchic in the realm of the Internet. As an ISP, we should also take all reasonable efforts to avoid posting or disseminating any defamatory material and ensure that we respond quickly to complaints made about allegedly defamatory materials that appear on the websites we host.