Bloggers required to sign libel reform petition
English PEN, Index on Censorship and Sense About Science are urging bloggers to sign the National Petition for Libel Reform.
English libel laws as they stand threaten the freedom of speech of all. They have stopped debate around gangsterism, corruption, the funding of terrorism and the promotion of ineffective medical treatment.
In early November, English PEN and Index launched their ‘Free Speech Is Not For Sale’ report. It detailed the chilling effect of English libel law on freedom of expression in the UK and across the world.
Together with Sense About Science they will launch a public petition for libel reform on 9 December.
The petition is being backed by members of all the major political parties. The justice secretary, Jack Straw MP, is considering reform of our libel laws and members of the Conservative front bench have indicated that they may consider reform if there is strong public support for change.
The Liberal Democrats are already committed to substantial reform.
Allen Green, a solicitor who also writes the Jack of Kent blog and has already signed, says:
Libel law currently inhibits and distorts important debates about public health, public safety, the conduct of powerful corporations, and even the conduct of police officers. The sheer ease with which a libel case can be brought creates a disproportionate burden for defendants. People are simply deterred from saying things about important matters which would be useful for others to know. This cannot be right.
Get behind the campaign at LibelReform.org so that bloggers can express their views without fear of legal retribution. Sign the petition to send a clear message to our politicians that reform is popular and necessary.
From a press release
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Sunny Hundal is editor of LC. Also: on Twitter, at Pickled Politics and Guardian CIF.
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Reader comments
“members of the Conservative front bench have indicated that they may consider reform”
I suspect the deputy chairman may be less keen.
this ‘tories will reform it’ thing is total bollocks and comes direct from nick ‘i love david cameron’ cohen.
On the other hand it’s comforting for me to know that when some little LibDem loser calls me a racist and a liar on Twitter and on his blog and then reports me to the police for telling him he will ‘face the consequences’ I have both the time and the money to sue the abusive little twerp for libel. And, do you know what? I might just do it.
Done
mike power,
Name names!
Lucky you to have the money!
Why do I think you are the sort of creep that justifies a change in the law? Are you a racist or a liar?
Who knows.
Your retreat to UK libel laws suggests that you are. For only an ingenue would do that.
I take it the Police didn’t take action on the basis of your charge?
Yes?
Douglas Clark.
Thank you for your considered and intelligent remarks. I haven’t retreated to UK libel laws. I said I might. It rather depends on just how much aggravation I get from the twerp in question. And no I’m nt naming him. It makes absolutely no difference to my point whether he is named or not. So I won’t, thank you. The proposed changes in the law wouldn’t make a blind bit of difference to the circumnstances I refer to. Are you a peadophile? A wife beater? A thief? A rapist? I have no idea? But if I was to suggest, in writing, in a public forum, that you were any of those things you should have the right to recompense through the law. Or do you think that anyone should be able to say anything about anyone else. Make any accusations about them. Tell any lies? Spew any filth or bile?
“I take it the Police didn’t take action on the basis of your charge?” I have no idea what this means. What charge? If you are asking whether I have been visited by the police in response to the complaint by the pathetic Lib Dem wakker I’m referring to then the answer is, not yet. But, if indeed he did make a formal complaint to the police, they will indeed visit me because they have no option but to follow up complaints no matter how pathetic or malicious they turn out to be. Good isn’t it. I call it harrassment by proxy.
As for having the money, yes aren’t I lucky. If by luck you are referring to the cumulative benefits of 75 years of hard work between my wife and me.
Why do you think I’m the sort of creep…etc? Because you are a feeble-brained moron who reaches for abuse rather than responding intelligently to a perfectly reasonable comment. You also don’t have the faintest idea what the word ‘ingenue’ means. Twat! Sosumi.
My son who is 19 posted some rude remarks about a nude model. He now lives in fear of being sued in the UK by the model because the American website – a message board – has refused to remove them. They are just insults really, but he says nasty things about her. These comments are now over 3 years old and he is in bad health and perpetual fear of being sued. The new laws need to be altered to 1 year period after which no case can be brought, blogging and message boards should be seen as places where people to go chat. Nothign is that serious. Things that are said are just rude comments. A laugh, not a case for losing £10,000 for expenses due to a no win no fee lawyer banging on your door. English law is out of touch.
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