Slashdot Mirror
Man Ordered To Tweet 100 Times For Defamation
durianwool writes "To avoid a defamation suit, a man in Malaysia has settled with lawyers saying he will tweet 100 times over the next 3 days that he's sorry for defaming a magazine company. Realizing the mistake in an original tweet, the man issued an apology tweet. That was not acceptable to the company, and the company (also his employer) pursued the matter with lawyers which demanded he place ads in newspapers. Not being able to afford newspaper advertisements, Fahmi Fadzil agreed to settle the matter with a series of apologies on Twitter instead."
So if you post one comment, a lawyer can scare you into destroying your twitter account by spamming it with 100 retractions?
And nothing of value would be lost.
The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
And then the news media gets a hold of it, creates a Streisand effect, and your twitter account is more popular than it's ever been. Meanwhile, instead of the 4500 followers this guy has knowing about these allegations he made, now millions of people all over the world know about them. When will people ever learn?
He didn't have a leg to stand on, if he libelled a company than essentially called bullshit on himself whilst leaving the offending libel visible on the internet (i.e. still being published).
And its not an unreasonable settlement. He didn't have to pay money by the sounds of it, and isn't facing criminal charges. He just has to tweet some stuff. And frankly, its refreshing to see a (apparently justified) retraction be more visible than a smear.
If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we shoot people for Apollo-related non-sequiturs?
Tweet #1: I'm sorry that BluInc is run by a bunch of petty self-serving asshats.
Tweet #2: I apologize for offending the sensibilities of a pack of hyper-sensitive shitheads like BluInc.
Tweet #3: I feel horrible that BluInc is run by a group of fucktards, so I'm sorry.
Tweet #4: [...]
Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
"and they were all, _all_ honourable men..." just like shakespeare's famously-quoted speech from julius caesar: most people only know the first line, but our protagonist was barred in his speech from saying a single word against caesar. so the phrase "and they were all, all honourable men" is used repeatedly. in the same way, i can't help but think this will have the opposite effect...
I think it's reasonable. I mean, if the guy really did screw up, a retraction is in order, at least the same size as the smear. The size is easy enough to figure out on, say a news paper. Just make a retraction the same size the screw up, in the same page so as to keep the same visibility (though that hardly ever happens.) It's arguable if 100 tweets is justified, but really, it's not like he's charged per tweet.
Actually, it's judo. It takes the power of the streisand effect and uses it against itself. Masses will come to the twitter, and see the *apologies*.
Could we please pass a bill so that all sorts of prisoners maintain Facebook redemption pages, tweet Gospel verses every day and recite the books of the Bible on YouTube?
I am confident that the thoughtful, kind, compassionate and caring comments of several thousand (if not million) followers would be much more beneficial to them than the lame standard rehabilitation activities.
Uh... As if forcing a Atheist like me to participate in anyone's religious campaign is not the very essence of cruel and unusual . I get your gist, but the method needs to be refined, there's that whole freedom of religion thing that gets in your way -- even if (esp. if) one takes such freedom to renounce all religions.
If you want me to respect your right to practice a religion, you'll have to respect other's rights to not do so.
Additionally -- I would simply quote the ugly parts of your scripture:
Numbers 31:7
Deuteronomy 20:10
Deuteronomy 22:28
Who's being punished?
::sigh:: I could do this for years.
To an atheist like myself: It's important to study all the worlds religions so I can relate to the way other people think -- and strike them to their core if needed.