A SLAPP IN THE MOUTH OF LIBERTY
Apr. 7th, 2010 01:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogITEM: NPR's On The Media has an interesting story about SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), a category of lawsuits typically instigated by people or groups (particularly corporations) with the intent of silencing their critics. The point isn’t to win but to threaten critics with an expensive legal battle they can’t afford even if they were to win.
It’s one of the most insidious workarounds to the First Amendment that exploits the limits of protected speech (where libel and slander are not protected) and the expensive legal system to silence opposition or criticism – and it’s something we’re seeing more of now that the Interweb gives ordinary people a much broader forum for criticism than before.
Not that any of this is new. SLAPPs have been around for decades, as has the tactic of using deep pockets and the courts to ruin opponents regardless of the merits of their case.
I’m reminded of Edwin Armstrong, the guy who invented FM radio. RCA – which owned patents in AM radio and didn’t like the competition – lobbied the FCC to change the FM frequencies, rendering Armstrong’s technology useless, even as they were using his own technology without paying a dime in patent royalties. Armstrong sued and RCA dragged out the case for years until he was out of money, heavily in debt and and his patents were expired.
He jumped out a 13th floor window in 1954.
Which just goes to show: Big Money is more powerful than truth ... if you let it.
Put yr money where yr mouth is,
This is dF
It’s one of the most insidious workarounds to the First Amendment that exploits the limits of protected speech (where libel and slander are not protected) and the expensive legal system to silence opposition or criticism – and it’s something we’re seeing more of now that the Interweb gives ordinary people a much broader forum for criticism than before.
Not that any of this is new. SLAPPs have been around for decades, as has the tactic of using deep pockets and the courts to ruin opponents regardless of the merits of their case.
I’m reminded of Edwin Armstrong, the guy who invented FM radio. RCA – which owned patents in AM radio and didn’t like the competition – lobbied the FCC to change the FM frequencies, rendering Armstrong’s technology useless, even as they were using his own technology without paying a dime in patent royalties. Armstrong sued and RCA dragged out the case for years until he was out of money, heavily in debt and and his patents were expired.
He jumped out a 13th floor window in 1954.
Which just goes to show: Big Money is more powerful than truth ... if you let it.
Put yr money where yr mouth is,
This is dF
