1. Linda was stunned in front of her PC when she received an electronic mail, in a chain of senders and receivers, telling bad things about herself, her crazy shopping habits, her domestic problems and her involvement in superstitious activities with a bomoh(magician) allegedly for gaining her more wealth and fortunes. She is now thinking to pursue legal actions for this unfavorable email against her. With reference to the above case, explain the meaning of online defamation, and discuss the legal remedies available for Linda.
++ Defamation can be explain in a situation where a person expresses words that may harm someone's reputation in the eyes of public. Two types of defamation are libel and slander. The elements that must be proved to establish defamation are:
1. a publication to one other than the person defamed;
2. a false statement of fact;
3. that is understood as
a. being of and concerning the plaintiff; and
b. tending to harm the reputation of plaintiff.
4. If the plaintiff is a public figure, he or she must also prove actual malice.
++ Defamation can be explain in a situation where a person expresses words that may harm someone's reputation in the eyes of public. Two types of defamation are libel and slander. The elements that must be proved to establish defamation are:
1. a publication to one other than the person defamed;
2. a false statement of fact;
3. that is understood as
a. being of and concerning the plaintiff; and
b. tending to harm the reputation of plaintiff.
4. If the plaintiff is a public figure, he or she must also prove actual malice.
What I can advise Linda to do is she can take the case to court. Linda should know that she has been protected under the law of defamation, which deeply understand that both libel and slander are civil and criminal offence. The person who found guilty either of libel or slander can be sued in court and also face jail sentence. However, in civil cases, the person who make the defamation will be sued from the defamed person for the compensation. In this situation, the amount of the compensation will depends on the damaged caused to the reputation. On the other hand, the person who make the defamation will face a jail sentence with a maximum of two years, or a fine, or a combination of both.
2. Tommy, a Multimedia student at MMU, was caught by University authority after it was found that he had cracked the University’s information system, defaced the front page of University’s official website and stolen a bulk of confidential data regarding students’ academic records. It was also discovered that he had attempted to break several lecturers’ computer system but without avail. On the investigation he said that all his action was just for fun exploring the system’s weaknesses and without any criminal intention. In this case, advise the University regarding Tommy’s liabilities arising from his actions with reference to the law of computer crimes in Malaysia.
++ Under the CCA Section 3(1); A person shall be guilty of an offence if (a) he causes a computer to perform any function with intent to secure access to any program or data held in any computer; (b) the access he intends to secure is unauthorized; and (c) he knows at the time when he causes the computer to perform the function that is the case. In this case, Tommy cracked MMU system and if he is found guilty, he has to pay for a sue with a maximum of RM 50,000 or five years imprisonment or both. Tommy aslo has vandalized the front page of MMU official website and steal confidential data including students' academic records. According to CCA Section 5(1); A person shall be guilty of an offence if he does any act which he knows will cause unauthorized modification of the contents of any computer. By following this Act, Tommy are liable to RM 150,000 fine or 10 years imprisonment or both.
Tommy had claimed that he did all those things only for fun, to explore system weaknesses and with no criminal intention, he still can be charged for recreational hacking,unauthorized access to computer, computer network and computer cracking.
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