Increasing Concern Of UK's Draconian Libel Laws And How They're Abused
from the time-to-fix-the-problem dept
As I mentioned, we've recently been threatened with a number of lawsuits. One of them is a threat from the UK -- despite the fact that we are not UK-based and have no UK presence or business operations. The concern, as with most legal threats against us, was due to a comment someone made, making fun of someone who, despite haven spoken critically of others, does not appear to like being spoken about critically. The comments in question are certainly not libelous in the US, but with UK defamation law being significantly more draconian, the upset person insists that the comments are, in fact, libel and that a lawsuit is the only proper response. I still think that, even under UK libel law, it would be a stretch to find these comments libelous and a lawsuit in the UK against us would be meaningless, but we requested that the lawsuit threat be removed, and the person not only refused, but suggested the plan was to move forward. When we suggested that such a lawsuit would certainly publicize both the ridiculousness of UK libel laws and how this particular person responded to a random anonymous comment from someone on a blog page, we were told that we were being "bullies" for mentioning that such a lawsuit might look bad for the person. I find it odd that someone who threatens to sue us would then call us a bully for suggesting why such a lawsuit might backfire. Isn't the bullying in threatening a lawsuit?And, thus, we are left with serious consequences. We've discussed how these sorts of ridiculous libel cases in the UK are creating serious chilling effects for lots of people, and more and more folks are coming forward to point out that the UK really needs to change its laws. The latest is UK comic Dara O'Briain who is sounding the alarm against this "ridiculous system" which almost everyone has recognized is creating "libel tourism."
"The libel laws which were initially set up to protect the reputation of individuals at a time when companies weren't the entities they are now are being used by companies to essentially quash dissent and to destroy criticism.The good news is that these comments came at the launch of a campaign to reform the UK's defamation laws to fix its backwards system, which is based on a different time. Hopefully the campaign moves forward quickly -- and with any luck, the threatened lawsuit against us does not become an exhibit they can use in how ridiculous these laws have become.
"That's a major problem. Companies can basically bully people out of saying bad things about their products and services."
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Filed Under: defamation, libel tourism, reform, uk
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If the suer is reading commentary here to get hissy about, perhaps they've also availed themselves of the many instances of the Streisand Effect to be found on TD.
But since they're still threatening to sue, it seems they are not familiar with this particular phenomenon, which you, Mike Masnick, did not invent, merely gave it a name.
Good luck, Mike. I hope they rethink their position.
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doesn't it suck not knowing who called you an ass
yup this guy hasn't heard of sticks and stones, but hey guess what we see jerks like him all time and in real life they get punched in noise a lot even if that is illegal cause 9 times out of ten they ask for it and "MENTALLY ABUSE" the victims until they retaliate.
GO ahead look up mental abuse. IT IS REAL and if he is mentally abusing you with threats he knows can't hold water then that could also be harassment. AND i would add if he doesn't want to hear it he has the god given right to start a blog and tell people his side, my bet is if the majority of people think YOU an ass you prolly are and you prolly would not do the blog cause it would totally backfire.
YUP SUCKS TO BE THIS UK WANKER.
P.S. if i knew whom it was id get people IN THE UK to call you some names
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names?
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heh
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doesn't it suck not knowing who called you an ass ( part 2 )
hardy har har
I have to say that people like this need to know two things.
THE 1st is the most important.
1)DON'T YOU HAVE SOMETHING BETTER TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE?
2) I would hazard your low self esteem needs some looking after, psychiatric evaluation of your person may be of utmost importance.
We'd hate to lose you after all.
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lawsuits
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Companies can basically bully people out of saying bad things about their products and services that they cannot back up in a court of law
Free speech isn't free, you have to be willing to stand up for it (and pay the piper when the time comes). If your comments about a product or service are exactly correct and documented as such, you don't even barely need a lawyer to go to court, because if you are right you win (and then you sue them back for libeling / slandering you by taking you to court for something they knew they were wrong on).
Like anything, the only people complaining are the people who went over the line and got nailed. Calling something "bogus" certainly could cross the line.
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When you state an opinion, it is possible that somebody else has a differing opinion.
How do you back up your opinion with facts? Anything you say about how when you ate at a restaurant the food tasted bad. Maybe they forgot some spices that day and the people going there tomorrow love it there.
Impossible to tell.
It should be a right to express your opinion.
And if you look at lawsuits filed for these things, they are more often than not to shut up people who have a negative opinion of somewhere. Used to stifle free speech, not to actually stop libel / slander / whatever word you are using to indicate you have no clue how to respond to criticism.
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Except in the UK, where truth is not a defense against a libel/slander charge like it is in the US.
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That is retarded.
Why aren't *these* kinds of laws "normalized?" Why does it only seem to move in the direction of more lawyers?
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Futility
See how futile it is?
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Re: Futility
Damages are based on how much harm the defamation did to your reputation.
This is a natural limit to suiing in different countries, as there is no point in suing for defamation in the UK unless you have a reputation in the UK.
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Libel laws
Such a fund might become self-sustaining, and it would remove settlements based on legal bullying.
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Well ...
I'm sorry no one taught you how to deal with name calling when you were younger, but that's not our fault. Grow up, or get out of modern society and stop mucking up things for the rest of us. This is no longer funny or interesting or beneficial to anyone involved. You're parasitic and the world would be a better place without you.
Sincerely,
The rest of us
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