If they don't make up for the damage people cause, the easy way to remedy that is to up the remedies until they do.
SirCmpwn is right. If this guy is innocent, his life is ruined now. And we've seen this pattern elsewhere, outside of tech; teenagers/adults falsely accused of rape or worse. People pissing behind a bar with a permanent contextless "sex offender" mark on their record. Etc. Lives ruined - innocent people escaping justice.
I honestly think this can be taught: Respect for the presumption of innocence. Why people should be presumed innocent should be taught from a young age. A similar respect as the one america gives to freedom of speech (although I'd hope it would come with a better understanding of what it means).
PS: I don't want to sound partisan or anything - I have no idea what this TOR investigation and affair is all about. In fact that's what's scary; I have no idea about the facts of the case, yet I've now been told that Jacob Appelbaum is a sexual predator.
Edit: It looks like nobody in the replies understood what I was talking about. It's naive to assume that the public at large respects the presumption of innocence that the govenment grants this man and other people in his situation. The system is broken if the citizens don't understand why this is important. Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of people even in the comments here don't understand why it's important, so it looks like this is falling on deaf ears.
What exactly do you even mean by "his life is ruined"? There are no criminal charges. No pre-trial detention. No trial. No prison sentence. This is a loooong way from his life being ruined. In all likelihood he will move on with his life, with no connection to Tor project.
This is the POV of a lawyer who understands how the legal system works and can (financially) afford to sue.
> If they don't make up for the damage people cause, the easy way to remedy that is to up the remedies until they do.
If both parties lack resources, you can't really receive damages comparable to a reputation destroying event.
Tor has a financial pot big enough to actually pay damages if these accusations were malicious AND false. However, iirc, Tor is based out of the US and the standard is malice. Tor is clearly not being actively malicious and being honestly mistaken would still be enough to destroy someone's reputation.
Now, in this case, I'm pretty sure Jacob has the financial resources to sue for slander but since its pretty clear its not a malicious act on Tor's part...its a fool's errand and his reputation will remain destroyed. Now, its quite possible that such destruction is deserved given this was an independent 3rd party, my problem is with your proposed solution if it was false.
Slander laws and "increased penalties" are not an effective solution.
For them (US) defamation law doesn't dissuade people from being reckless, only malicious.