How Do You Spell SLAPP In Canadian?
from the just-asking dept
In the US, when large companies try to shut up whistleblowers with scary lawsuits for millions of dollars, we have SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) laws that are designed to protect those who are speaking up, and punish those who file frivolous lawsuits. It appears that Canada could use some of the same laws. Slashdot points us to the news about a woman who was chronicling problems with a local construction company that was working in her neighborhood. She put up a website to help it get some attention -- which it did. She received praise from various politicians for her work -- including from the Canadian Environment Ministry. Of course, the construction company in question wasn't particularly pleased and has dumped a $2 million lawsuit on her for libel, claiming that what's she's written has harmed their business. Of course, you could pretty easily argue that the company did more harm to their business in not following proper procedures and laws in their work. The woman in question is excited that she got sued, because she said the whole reason she put the page up in the first place was to try and get the attention of a judge to the problems the company has caused -- and now she will. Of course, without SLAPP laws, she's on the hook for legal help, unless she can find someone to take the case pro bono. Meanwhile, the construction firm in question is discovering the wonders of the Streisand Effect, where this random website that a small number of people had heard of is suddenly getting all sorts of attention. In other words, their very effort to shut this woman up, has just made her a lot louder than ever before (even if the actual website appears down as we post this).
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Bitch Slapping
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Background
To answer dorpus's questions:
(1) If there was any truth to your theory, there would be plenty of evidence. A genius like you should have no trouble linking to some.
(2) You mean libelling, not slandering, and only a real scumbag libels people anonymously.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Effects
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Bitch Slapping
Man, get a life!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Bitch Slapping
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Bitch Slapping
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Bitch Slapping
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Bitch Slapping
[ link to this | view in thread ]