Your opinion on defamation law?

Question

hi, i want to find out other peoples opinions to the following question =]

---> Is the law effective, meaning does it eliminate defamatory comments from society altogethher or not? i have my own opinion but was wondering what everyone else thinks.

thanks

x

Answer 1

It certainly doesn't eliminate defamatory comment. For a start it only deals with defamatory comment which can be read as directed an identifiable person. People are perfectly free to defame groups of people, and do all the time.

Secondly, litigation is expensive. No legal aid provision for defamation cases, so in reality defamation only protects those who can afford to litigate it.

Thirdly, the effectiveness of the law shouldn't just be measured by the reduction of defamatory statements. To be truly effective the law has to prevent defamation, without also preventing or chilling non-defamatory speech. Defamation law has a massive chilling effect (partly because of public ignorance). Just look at any online forum. Somewhere a thread will have been locked or removed because someone involved threatened litigation.