The Court of Appeals' split decision in Shiamili is an excellent example of what appears to be the primary lessons from the 15 years of Internet defamation law in New York summarized here. Three themes emerge from these cases. First, the traditional mass media rules are being applied and, if anything, are being applied more vigorously in Internet defamation cases. Obviously, plaintiffs had hoped that the Internet was so different that New York's courts might relax the traditional rules that already provided substantial protection to traditional mass media publishers sued for defamation or develop new legal principles for Internet defamation claims that would provide less protection for internet publishers, many of whom are and remain anonymous. That has not been the case. Moreover, the new protection provided by Congress, the CDA, has been given a broad and liberal interpretation to further protect ISPs from defamation claims in New York.
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