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French Blogger Fined For Negative Restaurant Review
An anonymous reader sends an article about another case in which a business who received a negative review online decided to retaliate with legal complaints. In August of last year, a French food blogger posted a review of an Italian restaurant called Il Giardino. The restaurant owners responded with legal threats based on the claim that they lost business from search results which included the review. The blogger deleted the post, but that wasn't enough. She was brought to court, and a fine of €1,500 ($2,040) was imposed. She also had to pay court costs, which added another €1,000 ($1,360). The blogger said, "Recently several writers in France were sentenced in similar proceedings for defamation, invasion of privacy, and so on. ... I don't see the point of criticism if it's only positive. It's clear that online, people are suspicious of places that only get positive reviews."
... is a completely unknown concept in France. This is not news. Noam Chomsky paid the price when he defended Robert Faurisson, not for the content of his book, but to denounce the Government legally imposing historical truth. France (and Europe in general ?) has strictly no culture of natural Rights.
That incident was the world's first beatdown of a Glasshole. Silicon Valley was not the first place where this happened.