In the New World We Must Change Libel Laws

I make the point that in the Internet enabled world we must simply abolish libel laws. We need to move to a emarket based feedback outlook wherein people look at the totality of information available and make their own appraisals based on their own internal reasoning.  Libel laws will only slow down what is the same eventual process. A defacto ebay style feedback system will come to populate the internet.  As on ebay one should come to expect at least 1% negative press !  The following story is inspiration for these thoughts.  Hopefully Mr Usmanov will come to realize that being a crybaby won’t enhance his public personna. In the bigger picture we need that lawsuits of this type be discouraged.  The internet is our “IN” to move towards a new and much enhanced form of democracy based on more direct representation, so let’s not blow it!

Alisher Usmanov, a billionaire has threatened lawsuit in the UK in order to force the removal of Craig Murray’s blog.

Arty’s Here:

Bloggers beware when you criticize the rich and powerful

Event TimeLine

Craig Murrays Book – Murder in Samarkand

It seems libel laws are quite generous in the UK. 

British bloggers are particularly vulnerable to defamation complaints because of a previous court ruling that found that Internet providers qualified as publishers of libelous material if they did not react when alerted about a problem

I guess I should not be surprised.  They still worship “royalty” there. This gives the well moneyed a very assymetic power advantage over the un-moneyed. Don’t like what is said? Have your law firm write the ISP of the offending article. Does not matter if you are OJ Simpson and gaffed your wife’s neck.  There I said it…..at the risk of libel OJ Simpson slit his wife’s neck. Go ahead and sue me OJ….let’s see who wins the case!

If we are to have a sliver of a chance of a better world we better loosen these laws up quickly. The fact is unless we loosen them up you will be able to say NOTHING contriversial about anyone of significance in your respective society. 

Blogs will eventually become similar to the Ebay feedback system. People will come to understand that some negative feedback is inevitable if you are a big player on the world stage.  People will come to understand you have to look at the totality of the  situation and subsequently decide for themselves. 

These events further convince me that the system we have now is designed for the weak communications model of the pre-internet era.  In that era the voice of the common man did not really exist in a meaningful way.  We were force feed crap by the big media with no recourse. Society became accustomed to this monopoly and responded with these old fashioned libel laws where the channel could be flooded with negative press.  Tranlating these old laws into the internet era just does not work…….at least not to tranform society in a direction I want to live in.

People need to become more accustomed to making their own decisions instead of listened passively.

And by the way, don’t even think American politicians like the internet.  Even the best of them are obsequious social climbers of the type that seek to be high school class president.  Not one of them would be too upset if they could rein in the internet to hew to the party line as the MSM did in the 80’s and before.

As an added note: Alot of blogs tend to refer to freedom of speech as being necessary to maintain a “liberal” democracy.  I take issue with this.  Democracy is not liberal.  Its logical. its compassionate. Its rational. Its optimal. Only by random collision is “liberalism” ever associated with any of these positive qualities of life.  In point of fact true conservatism is holds much better fidelity to true democracy.  You have to think about it from the point of view of stipulating a conservative with good ethics versus a liberal with good ethics.  The conservative under this stipulation won’t riffle through your pockets looking for tax cash.  Can you say the same about a liberal ?  NOT !