The term defamation refers to a false statement made about someone or some organization that is damaging to their reputation. For a statement to be defamatory, the statement must be published to a third party, and the person publishing the statement must have known or should have known that the statement was false. The law of defamation is complex, as it has been determined by numerous court decisions rather than one national statute. In addition, a claim of defamation is subject to a variety of defenses, such as the First Amendment and (of course) the defense that the statement was true. Because of the complexity of defamation law, a full explanation of this area will not be set forth here, and is saved for others to provide.

While the Internet provides a new context in which a defaming statement can be made and published, there is little new law relating to Internet defamation other than liability for service providers. Nonetheless, web page developers must be careful to avoid defaming someone in their pages. If a statement is being made that may damage the reputation of a person or organization, care should be taken to make sure that the statement is not defaming