3 Comments

1. Mike says:

   April 7, 2011 at 3:42 pm

   Still don’t get it
   I’ve yet to hear a satisfactory explanation for why criminal libel is still an offence in Canada.

   My guess – he criticized a cop.
2. Dohn Joe says:

   April 8, 2011 at 12:36 am

   Unnecessary, but tough point to argue
   Like copyright law, libel/slander laws are actually unnecessary in that they resolve a problem which would likely resolve itself. In a world without libel/slander laws you’d have, by necessity, a society more critical of what they hear and one’s word would have it’s own reputation. The words of pathological badmouthers would eventually carry little or no creedence.

   That being said libel/slander laws just need more check for abuse as even the threat of a trial, whether with merit or not, may silence someone who is speaking truthfully about wrongoing and such. These laws in their current form threaten open, honest, discourse and one’s right to warn their fellow citizens about scam artists and frauds.
3. Gregg says:

   April 14, 2011 at 6:24 am

   Funny, you insult the wrong person, you could go to jail….
   Yet have half a town libel in newsprint an innocent man as a murderer and the cops call it “gossip” and wipe their hands of it.