Freedom of...???

From an article by Elissa Baxter comes this information:

Your online comments could land you in legal trouble.
You might regard what you say on the web as idle chatter - the written equivalent of shooting the breeze - but the law sees things differently and believes your blog, your email, your personal website and your posts in online forums are up for grabs as the subject of potential litigation.
The reason for this is that freedom of expression guaranteed by the web is not reflected in Australian law.

Most Australians would be horrified to know they don't have the right to the freedom of speech they think they have, says Robert Todd, media and defamation partner at Blake Dawson Waldron in Sydney. There is no written law that gives you a right to free speech in Australia. There is a general acknowledgement by the courts that it's a good principle but it is not enshrined anywhere as a right.

Unlike Americans, whose freedom of expression is a constitutional right, Australians have no legal protection if they express controversial views in public. The general population are blissfully unaware that they can be sued for defamation, prosecuted for contempt of court or jailed for sedition.

Material posted online is defamatory if it exposes a particular person to "hatred, contempt or ridicule" or lowers them in "the estimation of right-minded observers" or makes others "shun or avoid" them. Even if if you publish the 'truth' you can still be held incontempt even though the action will probably fail.

In Australia, defamation occurs wherever the material is read, seen, downloaded or heard. So no matter where material is originally posted or where a website is based, it is subject to Australian laws if it is read in any part of Australia.

The main reason not many actions come before the courts is simply money. Litigation is costly and the golden rule for every litigation lawyer is : only sue if a defendant you know can pay.
Even politicians can sue you if they wanted if your comments online are scurrilous..

A lot of people who go on to internet sites accept that it is a medium for free speech so they accept whatever is being said and they enter into a robust debate about it..

The actions , however, can be brought by police and the DPP. The police also have the power to force ISPs to reveal exactly where nefarious online material comes from, so online anonymity is not all its cracked up to be.

How can you say our piece but stay on the right side of the law?

Threats of violence are obviously going to be taken seriously.
Be very careful about mentioning ongoing criminal proceedings.
Don't discuss children involved in criminal or Family Court proceedings.
Think hard about making defamatory comments unless you have material to back it up.



I shall add:
Don't mention real names even if you think it is innocent and the person has said it in 'public' before.
Don't retell a story even though the story is already 'out there'
Don't trust anyone to come to you first to discuss their concerns. They are most likely to slap you with a writ before they do that ESPECIALLY if you have said something that is really very true!

Good luck blogging!