Rindos v Hardwick

Rindos v. Hardwick was a landmark case of defamation in 1993 in which Gil Hardwick alleged paedophilia against David Rindos, a Professor of Anthropology at the University of Western Australia. Hardwick lived in Derby, in the far north-west of Western Australia at that time, had had professional differences with Mr Rindos, and made his claims against Rindos on the Usenet newsgroup sci.anthropology.

The Usenet posting was made via DIALix, arguably Australia's first commercial Internet Service Provider, although the court did not consider whether the ISP was in any way responsible for carriage of the offending message.

Dr Rindos (1947-1997) was awarded $40,000 in damages from Hardwick (although Rindos died before collecting the judgement awarded to him).

External links

• the facts of the matter
• the "Rindos / UWA Case" Site
• Hardwick's post
• RINDOS -v- HARDWICK - judgement by the Supreme Court of Western Australia