Court Rejects RIAA's 'Making Available' Theory In Infamous Howell Case

Head Of Canadian Post Offices Says Satirical Top 10 List Is Libel

from the oh-please dept

Tue, Apr 29th 2008 4:16pm — Mike Masnick

Rob Hyndman writes in to let us know about yet another person trying to use libel laws to get content taken down that isn't libelous at all. Apparently, the head of the Canadian postal service, Moya Greene, got upset at a satirical blog post on the blog of the postal workers' union making fun of Greene for joining the board of directors of Tim Hortons, the well-known doughnut shop. The union blog post put together a mildly amusing "Top 10" list of reasons why Greene had joined the board, including such things as "So she (or her driver) doesn’t have to get in line to get her morning coffee." Har har. So, it's not all that funny. But, it's difficult to see how it's libel. And, of course, by invoking The Streisand Effect, it seems like all Greene has done is suggest that she doesn't have much of a sense of humor.

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

Filed Under: canada, canada post, libel, top 10 list

9 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

eleete, 29 Apr 2008 @ 4:41pm

Streisand
At least we found Barbs only talent.

e
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
GeneralEmergency (profile), 29 Apr 2008 @ 4:41pm

Careful Moya...
...you don't want to look like you're going "Postal" over something like this.

Oh, and pass the doughnuts, please.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cynic, 29 Apr 2008 @ 6:03pm

So let's analyze this. She wins the lawsuit and maybe or maybe not gets enough to make it all worth while. But win or lose the next time she goes for a job or appointment, might it seem to the person or persons making the decision: "no sense of humor, poor public relations skills and possible distraction from duties of the next job if she gets involved in another law suit...hmmmmm..."?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
General Streisand, 29 Apr 2008 @ 7:17pm

Sad day for Canadian Culture
Tim Hortons? No way! This is sad! I used to make conversation all the time with call centers based in Canada. Conversations circled around Canadian Culture, including topics about Tim Horton's.

So calling a nameless outsourced call center 100 times a month... Chatting about Canadian culture was the best part of the day. It was either Tim Horton's or the joke about "Going on top of the roof to drink a Molson".

Thankfully, Molson now has a US interest, so there's still something to make smalltalk with outsourced Canadian call centers about.

BEER!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
bobbknight, 29 Apr 2008 @ 11:33pm

LOL Timmys
We have Tims here where I live, and it's better than the other donut shops.
Moya Greene, any relation to Red Greene?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Brutus Beefcake, 30 Apr 2008 @ 4:58am

Soviet Canuckistan is still at it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A Canuck, 30 Apr 2008 @ 9:21am

Drive thru
Since most folks around here visit Timmy's religously, every morning, imagine the efficiency: I'll have a medium, black coffee, a donut, and the mail for 42 Beaver St.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Joe Smith, 30 Apr 2008 @ 10:17am

Timmy's
For those not in the know, Tim Hortons, affectionately known as Timmy's, is the largest fast food chain in Canada with enormous amounts of goodwill from the general public. It is iconic in a way that Starbucks can only dream about.

On the other hand the post office, its workers and its management, while it is better now, went through decades of being despised (partly for a one hundred year history of completely dysfunctional labor relations.)

The Union and the management should recognize that the general public would see appointment to the board of Tim Hortons as a mark of success and respect.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Malina, 10 Jan 2009 @ 8:13pm

So,is CEO of CPC is not full time job? What is it?
For 300 000 a year plus 300 000 bonus, her hobby?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]