blog.newsweek.com — Should Facebook & Twitter be legally considered as a space where people engage in conversation (like a virtual pub) or should publishing laws apply? To protect Internet speech, campaigners for libel reform want comments on blogs and other online services to be granted a legal exemption.
Apr 16, 2010 View in Crawl 4
bosskeyApr 17, 2010
Does this mean we can only talk about what Glenn Beck did in 1990 if it's true?
twohoundogsApr 17, 2010
I think places like Digg or casual forums should be left alone but if you are running a web site or a blog and putting out information as news and stating it as a fact then yes that person should be libel for what they write.
Closed AccountApr 17, 2010
jeff paul threatened to to sue me for my blog: <a class="user" href="http://jeffpaulscam.com/" rel="nofollow">http://jeffpaulscam.com/</a>I think they themselves got sued into oblivion though.
leparsdonApr 17, 2010
It depends on the situation really. Message boards should be exempt, as should facebook or myspace or whoits. But if you publish slanderous statements as fact on the web, then perhaps yea
Closed AccountApr 17, 2010
Anyone who talks about taking away freedom "for the children", is likely an authoritarian (if not a closet totalitarian) who ought to be watched very carefully by civil society and prevented from getting into any position of power, such as a Supreme Court justiceship.As far as defamation goes, you accept that some people may be nasty - just suck it up and ignore it; they're only words. In more civilized forums, you can call on the moderators to delete their trolling, which is fair, as the mods have the capability of speaking too, and sometimes they should do so.As far as laws, why the heck should we want meatspace laws to apply to a world of digitality, a world without scarcity, a world where anything is possible?"For the children." Really, it should be "for the votes from idiot parents" who want to sacrifice their liberty for some temporary security, will gain neither...and will lose both.
orbital101Apr 17, 2010
If you think "f**k you" is libel, you might wanna look into it a little more. That aside, I guess what I'm asking is: What's the difference between the internet and print media in your opinion? Why can someone be charged with a crime for printing vicious lies about a person in a newspaper, but on the internet it's "freedom of expression"?
newesApr 17, 2010
If anything facebook should be held under stricter guidelines because the people that see the posts are people that know the person in real life.
yeeaauuhApr 18, 2010
No you toothless moron. I just don't want some limey douchebag in a powdered wig trying to drag me to England for a court case because I commented about something on Digg.
screwy1138Apr 18, 2010
I agree, it would be DEVASTATING to the internet if it was exempt from libel. People, and companies (people quietly acting on behalf of companies) would use that to their advantage, and accuracy on the web, already flimsly, would be completely unreliable.