Readers of different blogs would have noticed some activity on certain 'prominent blogs' referring to cases against individual bloggers to do with allegations made around statements or comments that could be liable. I am no expert on the law of liable but a balance needs to be found between the right to express an opinion and describe a person the way you see them (as long as you remain within the decency boundaries) and protecting the right of a person to have some privacy. I don't know the detail of the case that the two London Jon's are talking about (Jon of the Rogers and John Gray) but I would imagine that the person they are defending has made comments that the person being criticised was not happy with and if that is the case I hope that whatever was said was true and accurate and not personal. I have been the victim of slanderous comments made against me online by an ex who of course felt bitter about personal issues between us but I never took the challenge and have not responded in kind. We all need to be mature about the world we live in and understand that if we put ourselves online and therefore in a way expose ourselves to the world we lose some degree of privacy. We don't want to end up like people in the US where everyone is suing everyone else all the time?
Freedom of expression balanced against the right of respect and some privacy is what we need to be striving for.
http://grayee.blogspot.com/2008/12/being-sued-for-libel-by-disrespectful.html
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