{"id":75,"date":"2005-09-05T23:15:02","date_gmt":"2005-09-05T13:15:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/?p=75"},"modified":"2007-12-30T21:07:35","modified_gmt":"2007-12-30T11:07:35","slug":"libel-liability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/2005\/09\/05\/libel-liability\/","title":{"rendered":"Libel Liability"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Here’s a legal puzzle for today, about libel.<\/p>\n

Standard disclaimers apply.<\/a> This is a hypothetical thought experiment; please don’t carry it out.<\/em><\/p>\n

Suppose that you were to send an email to my work email address. <\/p>\n

Suppose that you were to include in the email something clearly defamatory about me. <\/p>\n

Let’s keep the issue very clear here. This is about libel. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of this, so let’s not leave any doubt. Let’s assume it is derogatory and with reckless disregard for the truth. Let’s also assume there are no threats and no hate speech. You just make up a story about what you saw me doing last Friday night, and describe it to me in an email.<\/em><\/p>\n

I’ve got no legal recourse, right? You are sending this privately to me, and not to anyone else. My reputation isn’t being harmed. I’ve just got to learn to put up with you and with your filthy lies! You are safe.<\/p>\n

Now, let’s assume I work for a company that screens email. Let’s assume my IT department regular check what email is going backwards and forwards. Perhaps my boss also has visibility.<\/p>\n

Again, let’s keep the issue clear. In some jurisdictions, my company would have to notify my in writing that they were doing this. Let’s assume that they have followed their legal obligations.<\/em><\/p>\n

So now the story is quite different. I find my reputation amongst my colleagues is in tatters. My boss finds it hard to give me a promotion while that<\/em> image, that you so perversely and explicitly described, appears in their mind every time they see me.<\/p>\n

Can I sue you for libel now?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Suppose that you were to send an email to my work email address. <\/p>\n

Suppose that you were to include in the email something clearly defamatory about me. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_s2mail":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33,27],"tags":[72,187],"class_list":["post-75","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-puzzle-solving","category-thoughts-from-the-shower","tag-law","tag-real-world-puzzle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.somethinkodd.com\/oddthinking\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}