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Re: Internet Libel

>Example; the oldest trick
>in business is to have hired henchmen start "whisper campaigns" against
>their competition.  I've read in newsgroups that this tactic has already
>driven several businesses under who could not afford to defend themselves.
>Yet, naive readers still look at such campaigns as giving them the headsup

What you describe *would* be slander/libel and *would* be illegal. The
difference as it relates to the issue at hand is that the postings to this
list were statements of personal expierience. Since I am 100% certain that
those posting were posting *actual* expieriences, that would make those
postings FACT since they are based on ACTUAL OCCURANCES. Fact is not libel
or slander when stated in that way. There is nothing illegal about posting
or saying something along the lines of "Company xyz over charged me and
then never sent my order!", as long as it is true. If company xyz doesn't
like people being upset about their lousy service it is up to them to fix
their lousy service and then convince their customers that they are worthy
of their buisness.

Some time back in this thread there was a posting about how you couldn't go
out in front of a pet shop and say how bad they are. While I suspect that
if you really did have problems with a shop, you probably could do
something like this *peaceably* (think picket lines), it doesn't apply at
all here. In the case of the shop, every customer would *have* to hear the
bad stuff to get to the store -- there would be no way around it. The list
is different since no one is forced to read it. If someone doesn't like
what is said here, they are free to leave, buy from anywhere they want, and
never hear from us again. No one is forced to read APD poster's rants.

As with any medium, a wise reader should check several sources before
making a decision. If they determine, by their own measure, that company
xyz just gets too many bad reviews for their taste, they can go elsewhere.
I think in this particular case with Pets Warehouse, it is the actions of
the company against their customers that has created the most dislike for
the company. The original posts may have turned off a few people, but the
lawsuit and harrasement campaigns have resulted in this big
anti-petswarehouse movement we have been seing over the past few months.

     -Bill

*****************************
Waveform Technology
UNIX Systems Administrator