Courtney Love is being sued by a fashion designer for allegedly criticizing her on Twitter. Among other things, Love apparently tweeted that the designer had a history of cocaine use.
Smart.
Just because the medium may be novel, defamation can still be shown in such cases. Despite that, observers are still trying to sort out the ramifications of social media liability–
Legal experts say such Internet-related cases are being watched closely because they confront new and unaddressed areas of American law.For example, how should a libel case be handled when it comes to social media? How can society balance accountability with free speech? And if information — from private thoughts to public data — is so readily available, how do we define what constitutes privacy?
Privacy? It seems disingenuous to suggest that Love expected privacy when she tweeted about her designer’s supposed drug habit. After all, you can always make your Twitter account private, and Love apparently chose not to do so. In cases like this, it’s pretty clear that the purpose of using social media was, indeed, to distribute the message to as broad an audience as possible.
via Can the law keep up with technology? – CNN.com.
