One of the often praised advantages of living in the digital age is the ability of the Internet to allow a greater number of voices to contribute to relevant discussion — but how much of this actually occurs on blogs and web pages is increasingly becoming more of a concern. London-born supermodel Liskula Cohen knows a bit about that.

SUPERMODEL TO THE RESCUE. Model Liskula Cohen fought digital defamation when she took legal action against Google.

This past Tuesday, Cohen visited London to speak to Western students about her recent legal woes. In early 2009, Cohen filed a lawsuit against Google to reveal the name of an anonymous blogger who posted defamatory remarks and images about Cohen through their blogging service.

The blog, entitled “Skanks in NYC,” came to Cohen’s attention when a modeling client discovered it online. Since the Internet has become a valuable and inexpensive tool for models to showcase their work to potential clients, Cohen said the blog was dangerous to her career and reputation as a working model.

The lawsuit was a success and Google was ordered to release the name of the blogger. A defamation lawsuit is now being filed against the woman, an acquaintance of Cohen’s.

The case has set an historic legal precedent. Speaking to Western students, Cohen posed the question “if it is illegal in print or on television, why should the ‘information highway’ be any different?”

Thanks to Cohen and her lawyer, there is no longer a difference. Anyone that is defamed or harassed by an anonymous contributor online is now able to discover the identity of that person and bring a legal action against them.

Whether or not more people will come forward with cases of online harassment remains to be seen, but many have already taken comfort in the outcome of the lawsuit. Cohen briefly spoke about the tragic case of Megan Meier, a 13-year-old girl who committed suicide in 2006 after a degrading bout with cyber-bullying.

Following the Google lawsuit, Cohen said she was contacted by Meier’s mother and thanked for helping set the legal precedent she struggled to attain after her daughter’s death.

Western’ faculty of information and media studies hosted the speech titled Cohen’s speech as “Fighting Digital Defamation — Celebrity in the Google Age.” The presentation marks the first use of the money collected from the new FIMS levy.

However, not all FIMS students are happy with the way the money is being spent.

Michael Lynch, a fourth year media theory and production student, noted he has often had to defend his program to fellow students, and inviting a super model to speak as opposed to a key player in the media industry makes it difficult for his arguments to hold weight.

“As far as I’m concerned, [it’s a case] of one grown woman suing [another grown women] for calling her a bad name on the Internet,” Lynch noted. “Google should not have been involved and it is unfortunate they were forced to [sit] through the immaturity of both parties involved.

Lynch added he could see the relevance of the speaker, but thought there were better options.

Cohen, however, felt her case deserved to be taken more seriously than some press approached it.

“[The press] will say, ‘Oh, you sued Google because they called you a ho’, — any judge would have laughed you right out of court. I was called a lot worse things than a ho.”

—With files from Meagan Kashty