Margo Kingston of Webdiary Fame was absolutely astounded this weekend when she read about a case in relation to an Australian blogger who set up a website called "Hunter Holden Sucks:"

'G'day. Here's a successful legal ploy you can expect more of by people with lots of money to use to close down criticism on the web by people with little money. What do you think?' Shutting down blogs: "sucks" and the tort of injurious falsehood

Less than two months ago Joi Ito ran a similar headline: China shutting down blogs

A number of bloggers and forums are examining the implication of the decision in relation to "Hunter Holden Sucks" such as
Shannon: The Car Dealer & The Blogger
Technology and IP Business: No right of free speech for Australian critical website
3g newsroom: Legal threat to bloggers
Ethics forum: Legal threat to online posts
Full Text: Kaplan v Go Daddy Group & 2 Ors [2005] NSWSC 636

PS: There is another Australian decision that bloggers and users of online forums need to be aware of as the recent headline suggests:
Piracy: MP3 site, ISP breached copyright
It took almost two years but major record labels in Australia have finally won a legal battle against a Queensland man and his Internet Service Provider for alleged music ... Slashdot is hosting this discussion thread

Major record labels are celebrating in Sydney, Australia today. Amazingly, Stephen Cooper didn't even have to host the alleged pirated files. All he did (allegedly) was to hyperlink to a few sites that had infringing sound recordings. His ISP didn't escape either. Even the ISP's parent company got sued. No jail time but all parties will have to pay costs
Music industry claims big scalp in piracy case

[ Blogfather: Virtual Reference]