We seem to have so few wins these days. Please enjoy this one. Musk getting SLAPPed by a federal judge for his absurd lawsuit against Center for Countering Digital Hate.
It’s the “free speech” irony that drives it all home.
Menschen, die in Europa wegen unerwünschter #Kritik vor #Gericht gezerrt wurden, waren diesem Vorgehen bisher schutzlos ausgeliefert. Das wird sich nun endlich ändern. Denn gemeinsam mit einem europaweiten Bündnis haben wir für eine #EURichtlinie gegen SLAPPs gekämpft, die nun vom #EUParlament verabschiedet wurde."
The director of the Centre for Free Expression is joining a call for the #PEI government to protect Islanders from #legal actions designed to silence them from speaking out on matters of public interest.
James Turk told CBC's Island Morning that he believes a prominent developer's #lawsuit against the #Environmental Coalition of P.E.I. amounts to a #SLAPP, an acronym for "strategic lawsuit against public participation."
Buying Silence: How Oligarchs, Corporations and Plutocrats Use the Law to Gag Their Critics by David Hooper
This timely and important book focuses on the controversial issue of #SLAPP cases – Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation – which are designed to censor, intimidate and silence critics by burdening them with aggressive opposing lawyers, heavy legal costs and enquiry agents until they abandon the case.
Perhaps most clearly this is a Q. for the legal system that has facilitated & aided Mone in her attempts to avoid scrutiny of he profiteering from #Covid, while getting in the way of Bates seeking (and now starting to gain) justice.
"Report on recent protest in Abingdon, Virginia against SLAPP lawsuits targeting the movement fighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).
"Mountain Valley Pipeline is suing dozens of pipeline opponents in multiple jurisdictions for millions of dollars as part of a campaign of ongoing repression. Penn Stuart, the law firm behind the injunctions currently being levied against pipeline fighters in Virginia, and their Lawyer Wade Massie are hired by EQT Midstream, the largest partner in the MVP. Today, people had an office party at the Penn Stuart offices in Abingdon, VA, causing a ruckus."
How British libel law lets bad people get away with bad things.
English media rules are chilling journalism. For journalists trying to keep public figures honest, this can be a serious problem, one the UK is exporting around the world.
So common have efforts by rich individuals and companies to squash stories become that the practice has been endowed with an acronym: SLAPPs, or strategic lawsuits against public participation
Rajat Khare doesn't like people writing about him.
An Indian venture capitalist is mounting an international legal campaign to pressure major media outlets to remove his name from articles or take down the stories altogether:
As #RishiSunak scrambles to put some clear blue water between himself & #MichelleMone (presumably far enough that he cannot be reached by helicopter), the bigger issue for people outside the #Tory party (apart from the scandal of #PPE fraud), is her use of lawyers to try to halt press coverage of the accusations earlier in the year (accusations she has no freely admitted are true)...
I wonder if this'll be come the straw that breaks the #SLAPP back?
The appalling behaviour that British #LibelLaws enable - even with alleged anti&#SLAPP laws should be seen as a national disgrace - good piece in @theeconomist laying it out..
🎁 Link can be opened five times within seven days.
The European Parliament and member states reached an agreement on an anti-SLAPP law designed to increase protection for people and organisations targeted by "strategic lawsuits against public participation".
The victims of these are usually journalists, employees of civil organisations, and activists, with the lawsuits typically initiated by large companies and politicians.
📰 "Zgodnie z osiągniętym dziś kompromisem, w przygotowywanej obecnie unijnej dyrektywie dotyczącej ochrony osób dziennikarskich oraz broniących praw człowieka znajdą się zapisy, które umożliwią sądom na wniosek pozwanych:
oddalenie powództwa na wczesnym etapie, jeżeli zostanie ono uznane za pozew typu SLAPP, czyli bezpodstawny wyraz nękania i chęci uciszenia mediów lub aktywistów; wnioski o oddalenie takich powództw sądy będą miały rozpatrywać w trybie pilnym;
uzyskanie finansowego zabezpieczenia na poczet kosztów postępowania od osoby lub przedsiębiorstwa, które wystąpiły z pozwem; sąd będzie mógł też zasądzić poniesienie przez powoda kosztów zastępstwa procesowego ofiary powództwa typu SLAPP;
efektem postępowania typu SLAPP może być ukaranie przez sąd karą grzywny powoda, która wszczął postępowanie typu SLAPP.
To wszystko ma zniechęcić podmioty, które usiłują w ten sposób uciszać media i organizacje broniące praw człowieka, do sięgania po SLAPP-y."
Sure, sometimes it makes sense to do your own research. There's times when you really do need to take personal responsibility for the way things are going. But there's limits. We live in a highly technical world, in which hundreds of esoteric, potentially lethal factors impinge on your life every day.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
We must get over our reflexive cynicism towards public administration. In my book #TheInternetCon, I lay out a set of public policy proposals for dismantling Big Tech and putting users back in charge of their digital lives:
Das Schufa/Bonify-Drama geht übrigens weiter.
Die Schufa versucht nun gegen einzelnen Medien und Menschen vorzugehen, die über die Sicherheitsprobleme bei #bonify berichtet haben. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJpXQLJBoCI