Scenario in HK

Cases

E-silkroad v. Icered.com
The plaintiff, E-silkroad Holdings who provides of e-commerce development services and an on-line trade fair on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market operated by the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, alleged that a number of libelous messages posted on the Icered website between October 2000 and March 2001. Icered is a Hongkong-based website providing a number of forums on which anyone can post messages. The discussion boards are divided up by profession or industries (law, accountancy, banking etc.) and within that by 'threads' (headings posing questions inviting further discussion).

In that case, E-silkroad claimed against IceRed.com who carried messages which were very derogatory of E-silkroad and some of its directors and associates and so affected its share price when it was listed on the Growth Enterprise Market. Apart from seeking damages for libel, E-Silkroad also sought the disclosure of the name(s), address(es), email address(es) and Internet Protocol (IP) address(es) of the author(s). With this information, E-silkroad hoped to identify those responsible.

The fact was that E-silkroad won a court order requiring IceRed.com to disclose the IP addresses of those users who sent the messages. Other than that, the case has not proceeded any further.

Now Icered.com requires users to register with a valid email address before posting message into the forums, but users can still effectively operate anonymously by providing an email address by providing a hotmail or similar nature email account. It is not surprising to see that users will go on their postings anonymously, some of which may give arise to libel and some may not. This is ultimately the essence of the "Internet communications". Because of this, the defamed will find it difficult to successfully identify the "real defamer" and teach him/her a real lesson.