CINCINNATI (AP) — From Twitter and Facebook to Amazon andGoogle, the biggest names of the
Internet are blasting a federaljudge’s decision allowing an Arizona-based gossip website to be sued
fordefamation by a former Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader convicted ofhaving sex with a teenager.In court
briefs recently filed in the6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, the Internet giantswarn
that if upheld, the northern Kentucky judge’s ruling to let theformer cheerleader’s lawsuit proceed has
the potential to "significantlychill online speech" and undermine a law passed by Congress in
1996that provides broad immunity to websites."If websites are subjectto liability for failing to
remove third-party content whenever someoneobjects, they will be subject to the ‘heckler’s veto,’ giving
anyonewho complains unfettered power to censor speech," according to briefsfiled Nov. 19 by lawyers
for Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Twitter,Amazon, Gawker and BuzzFeed, among others.Those heavy
hitters"really tell you how major of an issue this is," said David Gingras,attorney for
Scottsdale, Ariz.-based thedirty.com and its owner, NikRichie, 34, who lives in Orange County, Calif.A
message left for Jones’ attorney, Eric Deters, seeking comment wasn’t immediately returned.Thecase
centers on the federal Communications Decency Act, passed in 1996to help foster growth and free speech
on the Internet by providingimmunity from liability to websites for content posted by their users.The
law also was designed to encourage websites to self-police offensivematerial.Judges and appeals courts
across the country have upheld the law in hundreds of cases.But not Richie’s.Hiswebsite, thedirty.com,
allows users to submit posts — anonymously ifthey want — about anyone from the girl next door to
professionalathletes and politicians, often accusing them of promiscuity, cheatingon their spouses or
getting plastic surgery or picking apart theirlooks. Richie screens each post, decides what goes up and
often adds hisown commentary.Most recently, Richie broke the news of Anthony Weiner’s latest round of
marital indiscretions.InDecember 2012, former Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones, 28, also aformer high
school teacher in northern Kentucky, sued Richie over postsconcerning the sexual history of her and her
ex-husband. Jones said theposts were untrue and caused her severe mental anguish andembarrassment.Richie
said that the posts were submitted to himanonymously and that it was not up to him to judge their
accuracy. Hesimply posted them and added a comment about high school teachers andsex.In July, after
federal Judge William Bertelsman allowed thelawsuit to proceed, jurors found that the posts about Jones
weresubstantially false and Richie had acted with malice or recklessdisregard by publishing them, and
they awarded Jones $338,000.Richieis asking the 6th Circuit to find that Bertelsman should never
haveallowed the case to proceed, which would nullify the jury’s verdict.Oral arguments in the case will
be held in Cincinnati, likely in the beginning of 2014, with a decision expected in the
summer.Gingras,other attorneys specializing in Internet law and civil rights groupscriticize
Bertelsman’s ruling as based on his own personal distaste ofthedirty.com and not on legal
precedent.Bertelsman ruled fourseparate times in the case against arguments over the
CommunicationsDecency Act, finding that the very name of Richie’s website, the way hemanages it and the
personal comments that he adds all encourageoffensive content.Richie’s own commentary about the Jones
posts effectively validated all the anonymous accusations against her, Bertelsman said.Theposts about
Jones were unrelated to a criminal case that emergedagainst her in March 2012 in which she was accused
of having sex withher former student, a teenager. Jones later pleaded guilty to sexualmisconduct and
custodial interference as part of a plea deal thatallowed her to avoid jail time but prohibited her from
teaching again.Jones and the student, then 17, are still together and say they’re in love and engaged to
be married.___Follow Amanda Lee Myers on Twitter at https://twitter.com/AmandaLeeAPCopyright 2013 The
Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
orredistributed.