Slashdot Mirror
In the UK, a Victory For Free Speech
Forget4it was one of several readers to note that British science writer Simon Singh, whose prosecution for libel we have discussed on several occasions, has won an interim victory in a UK appeals court. "The landmark ruling will allow the writer, whose battle has become a catalyst for demands for libel law reform, to rely on a 'fair comment' defense of his statements about chiropractors. It will also strengthen the position of others — from science writers and medical professionals to bloggers — who face libel suits, as the judges made clear the court was not the place to settle scientific controversies."
Mod parent up, please.
This is indeed the issue at hand - nobody can deny that they have claimed to be able to "cure" all sorts of things despite those claims being proven false.
The word "bogus" was latched onto as implying that the chiropractors were making these claims *despite knowing they were false* rather than actually believing what they said.
Had this recent ruling gone the other way, Singh would have needed to prove that they *knew* it was all lies which would have been nearly impossible. (Certainly he could have made a great case, but in the end no matter how much they should have known it's very very hard to prove that someone believes something.)