Libel pit: Difference between revisions

46 bytes added ,  19 August 2004
link illustrating libel chill
(the pit that Consumerium must NOT fall into, by permitting inaccurate statements to be made and not responded to, nor authors that attempt to correct such errors to be marginalized)
(link illustrating libel chill)
 
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Legally, if one group of people is permitted to make or repeat statements that are inaccurate, about another person or group, and that person or group is in any way prevented or restricted or limited in responding or correcting what is said, the owner/operator of the service becomes legally liable as a publisher.
Legally, if one group of people is permitted to make or repeat statements that are inaccurate, about another person or group, and that person or group is in any way prevented or restricted or limited in responding or correcting what is said, the owner/operator of the service becomes legally liable as a publisher.


This effect has been predicted as one of the ways that Wikipedia will be destroyed.  Those who seek to [[democratize or destroy]] it, for instance, might simply refer false statements made about individuals or groups, to those individuals or groups, and invite their strongest legal action against the project as a whole.  Various lies about, among others, Mel Gibson (who has sued even *churches* for lying about him), Craig Hubley (who is accused/crediting with having authored a rather vast literature by various parties, but this in an "article" which contains obvious factual errors), and Islamic political movements (who various authors have claimed all advocate violent attacks on all Jews and Christians by definition) have been famously argued about there, and the question of legal liability for such statements, or consequences of the individuals or groups being informed of what is said about them on Wikipedia.*
This effect has been predicted as one of the ways that Wikipedia will be destroyed.  Those who seek to [[democratize or destroy]] it, for instance, might simply refer false statements made about individuals or groups, to those individuals or groups, and invite their strongest legal action against the project as a whole.  Various lies about, among others, Mel Gibson (who has sued even *churches* for lying about him), [http://usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl?CraigHubley Craig Hubley] (who is accused/crediting with having authored a rather vast literature by various parties, but this in an "article" which contains obvious factual errors), and Islamic political movements (who various authors have claimed all advocate violent attacks on all Jews and Christians by definition) have been famously argued about there, and the question of legal liability for such statements, or consequences of the individuals or groups being informed of what is said about them on Wikipedia.*


This will be an important precedent for [[Consumerium Governance Organization]] to watch.  In many ways the destruction of Wikipedia will yield various lessons that will be important to avoid in Consumerium's very much more important project.
This will be an important precedent for [[Consumerium Governance Organization]] to watch.  In many ways the destruction of Wikipedia will yield various lessons that will be important to avoid in Consumerium's very much more important project.
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