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Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release AdvisoryBank Pres Drags Journalist into NY Court Over Drug ExposeElectronic Frontier Foundation Urges U.S. Court to Respect Mexican RulingsFor Immediate Release: July 17, 2001Contact:Cindy Cohn, EFF Legal Dir., Will Doherty, EFF Online Activist / Media Relations, New York - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) today urged a New York state court to respect Mexican court rulings that have disallowed lawsuits against independent journalist Al Giordano for publishing allegations of drug trafficking by Banco Nacional de Mexico President Roberto Hernandez Ramirez.
EFF seeks to protect the First Amendment rights of online,
independent journalists against the abusive "shopping" by
large, powerful corporations for favorable jurisdictions.
The Mexican bank brought the case against a Mexican-based
website, produced solely by Giordano, the Narco News Bulletin: "The EFF is concerned that the bank resorted to New York courts to try to shut down this website because it could not do so in Mexican courts," said Cindy Cohn, Legal Director for the EFF. "This kind of forum shopping threatens to shut down one of the greatest benefits of the Internet -- giving a voice to independent, Internet-based journalists. Faced with having to defend themselves in far-flung jurisdictions, many independent journalists will simply choose not to publish on the Internet." The case arises from allegations published on the the Narco News Bulletin website that the bank president was involved in illegal activities in Mexico. The EFF filed an amicus brief urging the New York court to rule that it was improper for the bank to force Mr. Giordano into New York state court for the statements posted on the website. The hearing on the case is set for July 20, 2001. Since April 18, 2000, Al Giordano has produced the Narco News Bulletin, an online newspaper devoted to spirited investigative journalism on the US-Latin America drug trade. Articles posted on the Narco News Bulletin website have discussed allegations by others that Roberto Hernandez Ramirez, the president of the Banco Nacional de Mexico, is involved in drug trafficking. Some of these stories were reprinted articles from the Mexican newspaper Por Esto!, published in Mexico by Mario Renato Menendez. After failing three times to successfully sue Menendez in Mexico over the allegations, Banco Nacional de Mexico now seeks to force Menendez and Giordano to defend themselves in New York state court against the same basic claims. The New York case groups together the allegations against the Mexican-based website, hosted in Maryland, with statements made by Menendez and Giordano in New York City on a radio broadcast and at a Columbia University Law School conference. The EFF amicus brief asked the Court to adopt one of two courses of action. First, in order to deter abusive forum shopping, the EFF asked the court to dismiss the case since Mexican law governs the dispute. Alternatively, since Narconews.com mainly republished investigative work done by others, the EFF asked the New York court to apply a distinct legal standard for libel claims related to republished statements. The legal standard requires that a republisher had, or should have had substantial reasons to question the accuracy of the articles. EFF believes that this higher liability standard for republishing on the Internet is necessary to encourage the growth of Internet journalism. About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression, privacy, and openness in the information
society. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the
most linked-to Web sites in the world: Note: though the previous EFF press release stated that the amicus brief was filed July 12, 2001, the brief was actually filed on July 17, 2001. - end -
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