About Me

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Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019) and AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021).

Saturday, February 18, 2012

An American case of bullying via defamation threats

H/T Leslie Cannold. This article in Salon involves an American billionaire who is accused of intimidating opponents with legal threats. It is very interesting to all those of us worrying about the use of defamation law to chill free debate here in Australia.

In Australia, unfortunately, the balance of power between public figures and small defendants is rather different, and even more favourable to the former. As we lack such strong freedom of speech protections, it is even easier here to adopt intimidatory legal tactics.

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