Techie's List

[Lauren]

"Criminal Libel ... is a Class 6 Felony"? 

Wow.  That one can get a person's attention.

Lauren

-----Original Message-----
From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus.edu at lists.techwr-l.com
[mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus.edu at lists.techwr-l.com] On Behalf Of
James Barrow
Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 10:20 PM
To: techwr-l at lists.techwr-l.com
Subject: RE: Techie's List

>Fred Ridder said:
>
>So Jim, are you saying that you were not the person who said "They 
>would have to prove a) a post to this website was actually a crime"?

I did indeed post that.

>And for the record, the one and only place in the thread where the 
>words "crime" or "criminal" were used in any posting to the list was in 
>a message from Janice Gelb where she was directly quoting from an item 
>on a case law website. The word "criminal" did appear in the quotation, 
>but the whole point of the quotation was that a specific statute in 
>Illinois had been interpreted by the state's supreme court as part of 
>criminal libel law [rather than civil libel law] and therefore subject 
>to issues of intent and purpose rather than simply the truth or falseness
of the statement.

The link that Janice posted talked about a defense to a charge of criminal
libel.  Going on that, I looked up Criminal Libel which, in some states, is
a Class 6 Felony:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/analysis.aspx?id=17263

Then I found a link where this archaic law was recently enforced:

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/commentary.aspx?id=12468

"All that changed in 1964, when the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that public
officials (later broadened to include public figures) could not win a libel
verdict or secure a criminal-libel conviction without proving that the
report was made with "actual malice," and either published with the
knowledge that it was untrue or done with a reckless disregard for the
truth."

In reference to the Techie List, the subject of a poor rating would have to
prove actual malice to support a charge of criminal libel. But, in my haste
to get to my lunch, I didn't map out the happy path from Janice's link to my
comment.  I apologize.

>So as far as the thread itself goes, you *were* the first (and only) 
>person to state or imply that libel was a crime. Check the list archive 
>if you think I'm wrong.

Nope, I believe you.

- Jim


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