CNET UK Podcast 146: Don't get sued for libel on Twitter

By Ian Morris on 31 July 2009, 4:31pm

CNET UK Podcast 146: Don't get sued for libel on Twitter

This week on the podcast, Ian, Nate and Flora discussed a week's worth of news and talked, at length, about a man who's fallen in love with a pillow. We also discussed the tricky issue of libel, and how even Twitter users can fall foul of this financially damaging legal concept.

News
Cable fault cuts off West Africa
David Cameron calls Twitter users t***s, sort of
Microsoft and Yahoo announce search deal
Spotify ready for iPhone

Crave
Get the skinny on Flora's Wi-Fi 3G hotspot and Nate's exciting news of a new 2TB Time Capsule and an awesome iPhone app.

Feature and Poll of the Week
It's something journalists are always aware of. What happens if we publish something that gets us hauled into court with accusations of libel being thrown around? Us 'professionals' should know better, but what about message-board, Twitter and Facebook users? Should they be held to the same standard? Are we all going to end up suing each other for libel? Will Nate try and get damages every time Ian calls him a rock-loving Apple fanboy?

Even more interesting than our debate was the poll results, which told us very clearly you guys aren't too worried about being sued. Be careful out there dudes -- it's a jungle!

WTF?
This week cuased us to say WTF more than usual. The first thing that made us exclaim was a story in the New York Times that detailed a man who has fallen in love with his pillow. As you might imagine, it's more a Manga character on the pillow that he's sweet on, but still -- he goes out and about with a pillow, that's pretty unusual. The second thing that made us honk with surprise was that the New York Times has written a four-page story about the pillow-fancier. What a week!