International call to action on libel laws in the UK

I commented a while back (Sept. 21, 2009 posting) about UK and its libel laws in the context of Simon Singh, a physicist who criticized claims made by the British Chiropractic Society, and his subsequent legal travails. According to GrrlScientist’s Nov. 10,2010 posting, the British government is promising to revise libel laws. A campaign has sprung up to revise the laws in a fashion that is more equitable has requested that bloggers from all countries sign a petition. From GrrlScientist’s post,

English libel law is especially dangerous for blog writers, most of whom are independent and lack the support of publishers. Any blog writer, including independent “wildcat bloggers” can still be sued in London regardless of where they live and work, and regardless of where their blog essay was published. [emphasis mine] Yes, I am looking right at you, my fellow Americans, since this law is used as a weapon in the United States against American citizens who dare to exercise their constitutional right to free speech in their own country!

The freedom to criticise and question dolts and idiots, using strong terms and without malice, is the cornerstone of argument and debate, whether in scholarly journals, on websites, in newspapers or elsewhere. But British libel laws inhibit debate and stifle free expression. British libel laws discourage writers from tackling important subjects and thereby deny all of us the right to read and think deeply about these topics.

This repressive law is so biased towards claimants and so hostile to writers, scientists, medical doctors and freethinkers, that London has become known as The Libel Capital of the World. [emphasis mine] The rich and powerful specifically file their libel suits in London on the most ridiculous and implausible grounds (a practice known as libel tourism), because they know that 90% of cases are won by claimants.

But there is hope: the British government promised to draft a bill that will reform libel law, but it is essential that blog writers and their readers send a strong signal to politicians so that they are motivated to follow through on this promise. You can help do this by joining me and more than 50,000 others who have signed the libel reform petition. You can sign the petition whatever your nationality and wherever you live. In fact, if you live outside the UK, your signature will remind British politicians that English libel law is repressive, antiquated and is seriously out of step with the rest of the free world. You can also include a personal message to go with your signature, so what are you waiting for?

It’s called the Libel Reform Campaign and is being organized by (from the contact page),

The Libel Reform coalition brings together English PEN [Note: Margaret Atwood has long supported PEN, an organization devoted to the principle of free speech; they focus on writers in particular], Index on Censorship and our partner organisation Sense About Science to campaign to reform the libel laws of England and Wales.

You can go sign the petition here (I signed it this morning).

One thought on “International call to action on libel laws in the UK

  1. Pingback: Scientific spat and libel case in UK has Canadian connection « FrogHeart

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