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Laurence Godfrey | |
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![]() Laurence Godfrey in year 2000 | |
Born | |
Nationality | British |
Occupation(s) | Physicist and consultant |
Children | Waylan Godfrey |
Dr. Laurence Godfrey (born 21 November 1952) was educated at the independent The Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School, at Westfield College, University of London ( BSc Physics, first class honours, 1975) and at University College London ( PhD, High Energy Nuclear Physics, 1982). He established a legal precedent for libel on Usenet, in the landmark Godfrey v Demon Internet Service case. [1] He lives in France with his younger son Waylan and is unmarried, having twice been divorced. He is self-employed inter alia as an expert witness, consultant and technical adviser in Internet-related litigation.
In 1993 he and CERN colleague Phillip Hallam-Baker became immersed in a very public dispute on Usenet, which culminated in a libel action (settled out of court in Godfrey's favour).
Godfrey was a regular and controversial[ citation needed] presence to the Usenet newsgroups soc.culture.british, soc.culture.canada, soc.culture.german and soc.culture.thai. His main topics of discourse there were the perceived and real shortcomings of the inhabitants of those countries.[ citation needed]
He launched a series of court cases including Godfrey v Demon Internet Service. Godfrey has used Britain's strict libel laws to bring successful libel actions, suing in British courts a number of organizations based in other countries, including Cornell University and the University of Minnesota. [2]