With the settling of a recent criminal charge of libel, for words written in a social media setting, it dredges up a number of issues for those online.
Recently libel charges levied against a local woman were stayed. Corporal Mike Black of the Drumheller RCMP explains there is a vast difference between uttering a phrase to another person during a gossip session over coffee and typing something out in an online chat or social media site.
While this technology has changed the way many converse, it throws the communication from conversation into the realm of publishing.
“People maybe don’t realize how important, and the care that needs to be taken before they document it on the Internet, because it is publishing it in a public forum,” said Black. “They may think it is safe because they have the anonymity of the Internet.”
While in this particular case, it doesn’t appear the conversation was meant to be anonymous; there are many who attempt to be anonymous or use pseudonyms to publish. Black explains online anonymity can be a fallacy.
“Just because you’re on a computer, Smartphone or any other device that you are able to publish things to the internet, there are certain techniques and investigational avenues police can take in order to detect what device sent it, the address of the device and ultimately to the subscriber and the person who can be held accountable for the comments,” said Black.
A criminal defamation charge like the one in Drumheller is rare, more often cases of defamation are civil.
According to an article published by the Canadian Bar Association, libel is the type of defamation that has a permanent record. This could be a letter, newspaper, broadcast, e-mail or website posting. This is different than slander, which is when thereis not a public record, such as a spoken statement.
It explains there are a few defenses to a defamation lawsuit such as absolute privilege. These are statements made in Parliament or in evidence at a trial or in court documents. Fair and accurate reporting of these statements in the media is also defendable.
Fair comment in the media is also a defense so long as they are honest comments of opinion based on fact and are not malicious.
One universal defense that is not based on privilege or fair comment is simply the truth. While a statement may hurt another person’s reputation, if it is true, anyone who says it may have a valid defense.
“You have the proof and the evidence to back up what you are saying if you are going to take a stand on any type of avenue,” said Black.