John Sharkey writing for the Citizen Media Law Project writes a real danger looms as courts deciding defamation cases concerning online postings are asked to issue injunctions restricting speech, a type of prior restraint that could be a substantial threat to the First Amendment.
Sharkey says, “Even if we limit injunctive relief strictly to jury verdicts, we have to remember juries’ error rate. With the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, variations in juries, judges, attorney skill, and basic human fallibility, we end up with some — for lack of a better term — bad verdicts. Money damages are one thing, but to have courts writing takedown orders for speech that, in the end, might actually be true is something else entirely.” -db
From a commentary for the Citizen Media Law Project, August 9, 2011, by John Sharkey.