RE: Techie's List

["Fred Ridder" <docudoc -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

Point 1:
Jim was incorrect when he stated that "in some states, [criminal
libe] is a Class 6 Felony". That is true in exactly *one* state: Colorado.
If you look at the website that Jim cited, you will see that only
17 states have criminal libel laws at all, and that in all of them
except Colorado simple libel is a misdemeanor. (A few states
do make it a felony to coerce behavior on the *threat* of libel,
but the actual crime here is blackmail or extrtion because the libel
itself need never be committed.) You would also see that many
of the criminal libel laws have specific conditions for criminality,
such as libel against public officials, libel against a bank, libel that
causes a breach of the peace (e.g. incites to riot), or that is
knowingly false and intentionally malicious. And if you read the
parent article that is linked from the bottom of that web page,
you will learn that many states are rescinding criminal libel laws
for a variety of reasons, including constitutional free speech
issues, and the difficulty of proving all the elements of a
criminal libel offence.

Point 2:
Criminal libel is much harder to prove than civil libel because of
the additional conditions in criminal libel statutes.

Point 3:
In most jurisdictions, prosecutors have better things to spend
their time and the public's money on than offences where civil
remedies also exist.

The bottom line is that criminal libel statutes present little or no
risk to anyone who lives outside of Colorado and who doesn't
deliberately commit malicious acts.

-Fred Ridder