The Mass Libel Reform Blog – Fight for Free Speech!

This week is the first anniversary of the report Free Speech is Not for Sale, which highlighted the oppressive nature of English libel law. In short, the law is extremely hostile to writers, while being unreasonably friendly towards powerful corporations and individuals who want to silence critics.

The English libel law is particularly dangerous for bloggers, who are generally not backed by publishers, and who can end up being sued in London regardless of where the blog was posted. The internet allows bloggers to reach a global audience, but it also allows the High Court in London to have a global reach.

You can read more about the peculiar and grossly unfair nature of English libel law at the website of the Libel Reform Campaign. You will see that the campaign is not calling for the removal of libel law, but for a libel law that is fair and which would allow writers a reasonable opportunity to express their opinion and then defend it.

The good news is that the British Government has made a commitment to draft a bill that will reform libel, but it is essential that bloggers and their readers send a strong signal to politicians so that they follow through on this promise. You can do this by joining me and over 50,000 others who have signed the libel reform petition.

Remember, you can sign the petition whatever your nationality and wherever you live. Indeed, signatories from overseas remind British politicians that the English libel law is out of step with the rest of the free world.

If you have already signed the petition, then please encourage friends, family and colleagues to sign up. Moreover, if you have your own blog, you can join hundreds of other bloggers by posting this blog on your own site. There is a real chance that bloggers could help change the most censorious libel law in the democratic world.

We must speak out to defend free speech. Please sign the petition for libel reform.

6 thoughts on “The Mass Libel Reform Blog – Fight for Free Speech!”

  1. So Zeno boy, have a read of the following and tell us what you think, you can print these off on plywood and shove them up the pussycat.

    Feb, 2008 – Lancet, “Ileal-lymphoid-nodular hyperplasia, non-specific colitis, and pervasive developmental disorder in children”

    Feb, 2010 – Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, “Hepatitis B Vaccination of Male Neonates and Autism Diagnosis, NHIS 1997–2002”

    Sept–Oct, 2008 – Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry, “Hepatitis B triple series vaccine and developmental disability in US children aged 1–9 years”

    June, 2010 – Acta Neurobioliae, “Sorting out the spinning of autism: heavy metals and the question of incidence”

    2010 – United States Center for Disease Control, “Recommended Immunization Schedule”

    April, 2010 – Autism File magazine, “Ethics, Evidence and the Death of Medicine”

    Jan, 2010 – Autism File magazine, “That Paper”

    Mar, 2010 – Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, “Delayed Acquisition of Neonatal Reflexes in Newborn Primates Receiving a Thimerosal-Containing Hepatitis B Vaccine: Influence of Gestational Age and Birth Weight”

    June, 2010 – Acta Neurobioliae, “Influence of pediatric vaccines on amygdala growth and opioid ligand binding in rhesus macaque infants: A pilot study”

    2009 – Medical Veritas, “Response to Dr. Ari Brown and the Immunization Action Coalition ”

    2004 – Elsevier, “Editorial: The First International Symposium on Vaccine Safety”

    April, 2003 – Elsevier, “Unintended events following immunization with MMR: a systematic review”

    April, 2008 – Elsevier, “Thimerosal exposure in infants and neurodevelopmental disorders: An assessment of computerized medical records in the Vaccine Safety Datalink”

    Jan, 2009 – The Autism File, “On Second Looking Into the Case of Dr. Andrew J. Wakefield”

    June, 2005 – Paper by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., “Tobacco Science and the Thimerosal Scandal,”

    June, 2005 – Salon.com/Rolling Stone, “Deadly Immunity”

  2. skepticunt said:

    So Zeno boy, have a read of the following and tell us what you think, you can print these off on plywood and shove them up the pussycat.

    What a nice turn of phrase, you have. A credit to your profession, no doubt.

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