On 9/11/07, Thomas Dalton <thomas.dalton(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Ask anyone
who's been libelled if they want
everyone in the world to be able to read
said libel.
Libel is another matter entirely. If the accusations against someone
are false, then something should, of course, be done about it. I don't
expect there are many such false accusations that haven't been shown
to be false (or, at least, unproven)
The bar for libel of non-public figures is very low if I understand it
correctly. And that bar varies greatly from jurisdiction to
jurisdiction. In some jurisdictions, truth is not a defense. And
then there are right to privacy laws, which are often intermixed with
libel laws, and to which truth is not a defense. Further, I'm sure
there's lots of stuff on the arb com "evidence" pages which are
downright false.
I'm also not sure to what extent US libel laws cover opinion pieces of
non-public figures.
So I wouldn't use the word libel, as I'm not sure it does apply. But
I'm not sure it doesn't apply either.