Tweet Bitch!

I’m a CNN.com fan and I regularly check out the tech section. This morning I checked out an article posted yesterday about Courtney Love being sued for libel by some designer because of some bitchy things she said on Twitter! See the article here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/17/law.technology/index.html

The article was about the struggle in the law world in dealing with new cases in the arena of social media. The big question they ask is how does the law keep up with changes in technology? There is also the messy area of privacy, freedom of speech, etc.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/17/law.technology/index.html

I’m curious what fem-fATL readers think…. so what is your opinion on getting sued for being a bitch on Twitter! I find it is ridiculous and think about how many people I could be suing or how many people could be suing me right about now because of crap I’ve said. Also, I think about the many ways a Tweet could be interpreted. The context of Tweet can be interpreted in so many ways! Like what if I was being sued for an inside joke? I’d be pissed! and you know what I would do? Sue ‘em! (inside joke @mikezarin).

At the same time, law and technology is a very important thing to address and it is only through cases such as this that helps to figure out what the law should be. I don’t promote bashing anyone online on Twitter or in blogs. I’ve been a victim of this myself recently and I have to say… not the most feel good, love parade, sunshine and happiness, give peace a change, imagine type of feeling! I think the end of the article makes a good point about having good etiquette whether you are online or offline. If you wouldn’t take shots at me to my face then don’t do it to me online.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but a tweet will never hurt me. I’ll just tweet something bitchy back most likely! Tweet WAR! wee! So without knowing all the details on the case, I’m on Courtney’s side, but what if the circumstances were different. What if she had been doing something more then just talking shit? I’m not sure where to draw the line when it comes to slander and I would love to have some lawyer thinkers to voice in. It is potentially violating for someone to disclose personal information and especially pictures and video.

I know someone (who shall not be revealed) who totally slandered another person online who they had beef with, revealing personal and confidential information about them on a fake MySpace page they created to seem like the actual person and added all of that person’s real friends and acquaintances. Yikes! Supposed villain could have faced some serious consequences. But what is the law and where do you draw the line?

In the CNN article a law professor Jeffrey Rosen at George Washington University believes “the law can only act on society’s consensus”. So I think we had better start coming to a consensus.

Please check out the CNN article and share you thoughts on this issue here on fem-fATL.com!