Local blogs are abuzz with the TRO on the PCIJ.
Certainly people have a right to privacy and their good reputation. At the same time, people have the right to free speech and a free press. In theory, the courts and legal processes will strike the necessary balance.
Sometimes, however, the scales aren’t calibrated right in the process. Governments and corporations have vast resources, and all the time in the world to pursue litigation - something an ordinary blogger or forum poster does not have. Sometimes just filing suit, without any reference to the merits of the situation - would be enough to pull the plug.
I used to call this kind of thing legal sleazeballing - the “proper” term, it turns out - is Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (or simply SLAPP): “…a form of litigation filed by a large corporation or in some cases, an individual plaintiff to intimidate and silence a less powerful critic by so severely burdening them with the cost of a legal defense that they abandon their criticism.”
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