Law Pointers

Currently there are over 30 million blogs on the internet and thousands more being created each week. Assuming ownership of one blog per person, that’s a minimum of 30 million people slinging around their personal opinions on all that exists under the sun. This is a good thing. The free exchange of thoughts and ideas is what prevents the world from becoming a stagnant pool of dictatorship with the appropriate green scum floating on top.

However, to steal a line from the movie Spiderman, ‘With great power comes great responsibility’. Blogging has become a way for the voice of the people to be heard. We must be careful, though, not to abuse our power through thoughtless acts that hurt the credibility of bloggers and blogging. One place that continues to be our Achilles heel is when good posts go bad.

In the United States, libel and slander are the two categories of defamation. In many states, courts have begun treating them the same as the only difference between the two is that libel is a false written statement about a person, place or thing that harms his/her/its reputation while slander is the verbal act of the same offense. Whether blogged on the internet or whispered offline to your mother, the common denominator is that what is said is false.

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If someone should file a complaint with the police, and their claims are lies, does this constitute slander?

It depends on the investigation. If the police investigate, find no merit to the case and ultimately dismiss it, then there isn’t a case for slander. There really isn’t slander if nobody believes what is being said. It is in fact quite possible though that they can be brought up on charges for filing a false police report if they can prove they intentionally made false claims.

As social networking sites and internet blogs continue to increase in both popularity and use, the opportunities for defamatory and libelous actions increase proportionally. Defamation, sometimes called “defamation of character”, is spoken or written words that falsely and negatively reflect on a living person’s reputation. Slander is generally spoken defamation, while ‘libel’ is written. Blogs or social networks in which defamatory statements are written or recorded present several potential sources of liability and recovery for the person whose character was defamed. In cases where the defamation is proved, damages are presumed and often enforced with liberality.

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Taking some pride in my one hundred percent positive feedback score on eBay, I was horrified to see a negative feedback appear against me.

What had I done wrong? Had I overlooked an auction win and failed to deliver product as promised? Had I given poor, slow service? Was I rude to the auction winner?

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Each of the above named complaints have specific meaning and I will try to address each one in a general manner.

Libel is a harmful statement made within a written form or fixed medium.

Slander is a harmful statement made via speech or a transitory form.

Defamation is when one of the above complaints occurs, publication exists and damages have occurred.

Truth is the absolute defense against any claims of libel or slander. If the comments are believed to be truthful then the party has a right to free speech to make such statements. If they made knowingly false statements that have damaged you, then one of the above complaints would fit. Opinions are generally not actionable but statements made as fact are.

This is just a general idea of the differences between libel and slander. These are very serious accusations, and if you find yourself in a case whether as a defendant or or claimant, it’s highly advisable to speak with a local attorney for representation.