Slashdot Mirror
A New Libel Defense In Canada; For Blogs Too
roju writes "The Globe and Mail reports that the Canadian Supreme Court has created a new defense against claims of defamation, allowing for reporting in the public interest. They specifically included bloggers as eligible, writing: '...the traditional media are rapidly being complemented by new ways of communicating on matters of public interest, many of them online, which do not involve journalists. These new disseminators of news and information should, absent good reasons for exclusion, be subject to the same laws as established media outlets.' and 'A review of recent defamation case law suggests that many actions now concern blog postings and other online media which are potentially both more ephemeral and more ubiquitous than traditional print media. ... [I]t is more accurate to refer to the new defense as responsible communication on matters of public interest.'"
That was a court case gone wrong, your lawyer sucks.... Or the law wherever you are sucks a lot. In Ontario I do know that truth is absolutely a defense.
The consequences of speaking the truth and criticizing someone else's unacceptable behavior should not be 10 months of agony and a payout to a person who shows a clear pattern of suing their clients exactly the way she sued my wife. You are an idiot.