Following on from my last post on the subject of blogging and liability Euroferries are made of green jam and the very good comments that have been added I have taken a deeper look at the state of British law.

Saying our laws on the subject of libel are out of date and dangerous is an understatement. They have been publicly recognised as out of date and in dire need of reform for the last ten years or more.

Back in 2002 ISPs and libel laws were under review with the opinion that the law needs to change. seven years later and things remain as ever they have done.

The problem appears to be that back in May 1998 physicist Laurence Godfrey used a fraudulent e-mail post that contained obscene and defamatory material about him to sue Demon Internet U.K. for libel. Demon for some reason simply settle out of court and set a president that disfavours all ISPs.

The BBC reported recently that Index on Censorship have said that the strict laws are used by wealthy foreign individuals to "bully people who try to hold them to account". Not a good sign for our brave bloggers trying to hold our local councillors and businesses to account.

The BBC goes on to quote John Kampfner, chief executive of Index on Censorship, saying There are US States who view English libel law as so damaging to free speech they have passed laws to effectively block the decisions of English judges.

Recommendations include Making some internet comments exempt as part of efforts to reflect the arrival of the world wide web. Something we have seen the need of first hand.

No wonder ECR blogs without his real name.

Ignorance of their rights may be causeing Thanet bloggers to be unnecesserily pushed arround by big business. The big business attempting to censor or manipulate blogs this time is Euroferries.

Two bloggers Adem and the psudo-anonymous Eastcliff Richard have both published what look like solicitor written statements. These both published with uncharacteristic closed comments.

Leading to such posts as "Libel to Kill" where leading bloggers in the Thanet niche are announcing that all comments will be heavily moderated and fact checked prior to publication.

Now excuse and correct me if I am in any way wrong but with libal it is the person who wrote the offending text. Otherwise it would be libellous to cite the offending text in order to prosecute or report it.

So unless a legal expert (which I am not) can say otherwise I am outright telling you that Euroferries have gone too far. Thanet Star will not ever yield to bully companies that feel that they can (ab)use the law (or rather solicitors) to force their will on bloggers when there are better methods available.


Keep reading to find out what can and should be done.

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» Continue Reading: Euroferries are made of green jam.

Euroferries threats to leading bloggers are, in my opinion, a threat to everyone in Thanet. Thanet still endures under a culture of fear and hostility where most bloggers do not dare to name themselves. The Euroferries threats that Eastcliff Richard (ECR) has clearly been dealt serve only to undermine the privacy we crave in order to question the politics here.

The simple fact is that ECR was reporting factually on comments made on another blog. Euroferries would not have had a hope in hell (in my opinion) of getting anything other than the right to pay ECRs costs. However they would have spoiled a good thing by unmasking a man many of us would rather not see unmasked.

ECR takes the role of the all licensed fool and as such while wearing that mask (whoever he is) is free to say things no one else is brave enough to voice. The only effect Euroferries could have had would be to have cost Adem and ECR a lot of pain and then gone after the "anon" commenter. The people that suffer would have been all of us and just so Euroferries could prove they had not gone bust something so self evidently true that it makes the entire thing laughable if not for the serious nature of the damage all Thanet bloggers would have taken.

Their strong arm tactics are, in my eyes, an attack on all of us and if on all of us on me. I take the actions of Euroferries personally as Thanet Star works only because it is park of a bigger picture. To this I will respond.

I have updated my comment policy to try and be clearer about how and why I do things (like when I feel a comment should be removed). It can still be found on the site policies page.

In a nut shell I've clarified that being spamming is a no go and that I like to think disagreeing with me is fine. I've also covered SEO (and it's abuse) as well as the legal question of comment authorship and therefore ownership. I also mention freedom of speech issues.

As always - feel free to say something related tot he topic of the post.