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On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 5:14 PM, Raymond Jennings <shentino@×××××.com> wrote: |
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> On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 1:56 PM, Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o> wrote: |
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>> |
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>> On Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 4:35 PM, Raymond Jennings <shentino@×××××.com> |
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>> wrote: |
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>> |
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>> > 2) If the testimony proves false and unreliable, the witness's identity |
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>> > can |
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>> > be exposed. And in this case, deservedly so. |
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>> |
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>> This is still very problematically legally, because this amounts to |
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>> potential defamation against the witness if you can't prove that |
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>> you've gotten it right to the standards of a court. |
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> |
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> |
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> Not if policy is updated so that a) people submitting testimony to comrel |
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> going forward give implied consent and b) standard boilerplate legalese |
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> where they waive the right to sue. |
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A court is not necessarily bound by either. Certainly I'd want a |
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lawyer's advice on such things. Besides, if we were going to go this |
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route it would make far more sense to just tell anybody who wants to |
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submit something to Comrel to post it on a public list, so that Gentoo |
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isn't the one doing the disclosures. I still think it will have a |
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chilling effect. |
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> |
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> And also: |
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> 1) In civil lawsuits for defamation, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff |
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Sure, but maybe they can prove that Gentoo got it wrong. |
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> 2) Truth is an absolute defense to defamation/libel/slander |
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Well, how are we supposed to know what the truth is? At best we can |
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determine whether evidence is corroborated or contradictory. |
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In any case, why would we want to take the legal risk of having to |
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prove that we're telling the truth, vs just keeping our mouths shut |
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which is what virtually every other organization in existence does in |
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these sorts of situations? |
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> 3) Opinions are not actionable. My opinion is that Donald Trump has |
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> horrible hair. Whether his hair is horrible or not, it is the truth that I |
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> have such an opinion, and he can't sue me, because my statement is about my |
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> opinion, not his hair. |
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Sure, but statements like "Donald Trump lied in his Comrel testimony" |
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aren't opinions. And we would be talking about Trump either, but |
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somebody who disclosed something in private and who isn't a public |
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figure. A court is going to look at somebody like Trump differently |
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since he puts himself out in the public light. |
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In any case, I don't really think that publishing testimony is a great |
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idea all around, and even if it is uncertain that somebody would |
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prevail against us in a court, why even take that risk? If we don't |
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think somebody belongs in the community, we can send them on their |
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way, and they can do their thing, and we can do ours. We don't have |
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to publicly shame them first. |
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-- |
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Rich |
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