UK House of Lords Recognises the SLAPP Issue in the UK and EFF Pursues "Bill (That) Could Put A Stop To Censorship By Lawsuit" in the US
"A House of Lords inquiry into how the news industry can survive into the future has accused the government of “failing to prioritise” action on strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs)."
There may be "action by summer" regarding SLAPPs. We too will participate in this, to the extent feasible given that we're not as big or famous as Telegraph, Independent, Guardian, Sun, Mail, Express, MEN etc. We're a site specialising in technology, not some famous newspaper. We'll never be some "famous newspaper"; it's not even a goal. We're proud of our source protection and accuracy. We don't strive for "hits", ads, Social Control Media "trends" and so on. We're just good at what we do. So we do more of it.
At the moment two Microsofters try to censor this site. One of them has tried that since 2023 and last year, having failed at numerous levels (even the webhost), he started a SLAPP via an unscrupulous firm that we reported to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for abuse. Several laws firms told us that this firm is engaging in abusive litigation against us. Prior to that several laws firms told us that this firm was exceptionally notorious (even in lawyers' circles). Judging by public material (like press articles), this firm proudly states there's no issue with UK libel laws and no reform is needed. Follow the money...
The real issue here is the first SLAPPer [1, 2] and his facilitator. Back in January a court recognised that he must explain his behaviour. Last October he tried to escape responsibility for his online abuse and thought he can escape without explaining this abuse. The judge disagreed. Regarding the second SLAPP, which coincided with it (within days!), Mr. Graveley literally begged me to remove articles about him (I never replied to him or even wrote to him; there's no point). If someone begs you to remove pages and a judge sees the begging (repeated begging even), there goes any credibility that it is libel. What we deal with here are two Microsofters desperate to hide bad publicity.
Thankfully, in spite of the lobbying from the "SLAPP industry", the political and public perceptions are rapidly changing. They don't want war criminals from Russia or some serial strangler of women (Microsoft, US) to harass British journalists. Why should British law firms and courts even entertain Americans? There's ample evidence that the tide is turning these days. Please see "Lords slam government inaction on SLAPPs, calling for action by summer" (news at Press Gazette). It says: "Lords say financial penalties for lawyers pursuing slaps should be 10,000 times higher".
Better yet, strike them out. Take them out of business.
We'll work towards this.
In fact, perhaps we can throw in some input to them (like amicus brief in the US) explaining, "my site so and so... is attacked by the same lawyer several times by some Americans who are funded by Microsoft and are closely connected" (literally one degree in separation in the literal bedroom). From what we have heard, Mr. Graveley is an admitted alcoholic (he was in AA) and habitual hard drug user from another country (who assaulted women and got arrested for it), so giving them "False Hopes" or "Revenge" against sane people who report facts in the UK is not good for the reputation of our legal system. It is also a US issue.
Also see what the EFF published months ago (from the same month as much of the above, which I commented on at the time):
This Bill Could Put A Stop To Censorship By Lawsuit
For years now, deep-pocketed individuals and corporations have been turning to civil lawsuits to silence their opponents. These Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, or SLAPPs, aren’t designed to win on the merits, but rather to harass journalists, activists, and consumers into silence by suing them over their protected speech. While 34 states have laws to protect against these abuses, there is still no protection at a federal level.
In case it's not obvious, poor Brett Wilson is fronting for a pair of lunatics from another country. We must make that unequivocal and not set it aside as mere "details". One of them has been doing this to me - and to many others as recently as last week - for nearly 14 years (some say for over 20 years). It won't stop until he pays a lot for his mistakes. █
Related: Brett Wilson LLP Does Not Deny Microsoft or Another "Third Party" Secretly Funds the SLAPPs Against Techrights, Bankrolling Despicable People Who Deserve Criticism | People Who Came From Microsoft Demanding Removal of Articles About Them, About Microsoft, and About Microsoft GitHub is "Generous" (According to Them)