Not so long ago, the most popular and immediate means of revenge for both adults and children was the crank phone call. Remember crank phone calls? The late-night harassment, the awkward silences, those climactic hang-ups. Simple and effective, sure, but these days completely passé. I mean, crank calls are so analog, so yesterday — and so easily traceable...

Today, many folks are flocking to a new and enormously gratifying means of extracting revenge, '90s style — the Web page! It's the digital way to satiate an age-old desire. And instead of reaching just a handful of targets, your Web page has an immediate global audience of millions, all capable of absorbing your anger and vitriol, all in real time. Vicious marital disputes, for example, are now being played out online — a woman recently posted a Web page describing her ex-husband as a scumbag who wasn't paying his child support, and provided his telephone number so angry readers could reach him directly.

Best of all, thanks to Web homepage-building pioneers like Tripod, AOL, and GeoCities, you can have your revenge page online in a matter of minutes, complete with images and hyperlinks, for free. Sound too good to be true? It is.

Sure, revenge might be sweet. But post your angry diatribe on the Web for the world to see and you are exposing yourself to an existing body — criminal and civil — of law which may very well result in your criminal arrest, or worse: your financial destruction at the hands of a civil court jury. Need some proof?

Recently, two Florida teenagers posted a Web page attacking their high school band teacher, alleging, amongst other things, that he was "a queer." A criminal complaint was promptly filed and local police soon arrived at the teenagers' homes and arrested them.

California gossip columnist Matt Drudge, author and publisher of the enormously popular Drudge Report reported in his August 10 column that Clinton White House Aide Sidney Blumenthal "has a spousal abuse past that has been effectively covered up." The allegation was unproven, and Blumenthal and his wife immediately filed suit against Drudge in a $30 million libel case which promises to play out over many months and rack up huge legal expenses on all sides.

The moral of all this? Anything you post on the Web can be used against you in a court of law. The applicable laws involved include libel, defamation, and invasion of privacy. Many local and federal courts have chosen to hold statements published online to the same standard as statements published in print, thus exposing Web publishers to potentially strict criminal and civil penalties and judgements.

How do you know what is a libel on the Web and what is not? How do you know if you have a cause of action against someone who has published something on the Web about you? In coming weeks, I'll discuss these legal definitions, along with some important information about legal jurisdiction — that crucially important legal issue which establishes which courts (and where) have the authority to prosecute you. (Hint: You can be legally compelled to answer charges almost anywhere in the country for something you post on the Web.)

In the meantime, here are some useful resources which will provide some definitions and background on what you need to know before you go cyber with your grudge. Check out:

Libel & Slander: Excellent legal definitions and guidance from the folks at freeadvice.com.

Cyberlibel — The Web Site: The name says it all!

The New York Times CyberLaw Index: Excellent news coverage of the latest cases and issues in online defamation, libel and other revenge-related confrontations.