With all the online technology and social networking available today, starting and spreading a rumor is easier than ever. But it has also become easier to get caught. Recently in the news, there has been a growing trend of people getting into trouble for writing comments about their schoolmates and work collegues on Myspace pages, Facebook walls, and personal blogs. These comments have included a range of insults and derogatory name-calling.
All this drama, especially the cases which have wound up in court for accusations of libel and slander, have many wondering what exactly qualifies as libel or slander? According to dictionary.law.com, libel is anything written or broadcast that is “an untruth about another which will do harm to that person or his/her reputation, by tending to bring the target into ridicule, hatred, scorn or contempt of others.” Slander is the same except that the “untruth” is spoken rather than written.
This raises another question, can something written in a blog, Myspace or Facebook be considered as libel or slander? The answer, according to the law, is still undecided.
Many people consider a situation in which there is a rumor that is not true but is written and passed on to others through a blog, Myspace page or Facebook as libel.
“[Facebook] is a public space online and anyone can see it,” said Carmen Martinez, a sophomore at NEIU. When asked at what situations she would draw the line as slanderous, Martinez was unsure but would count verbal comments from co-workers.
This is the 21st century, the age of technology. Everything and anything online can be found and accessed by millions. What is written on internet social networking sites is not private, no matter how closely the privacy settings are guarded. This leads me to the advice I have to offer.
Have fun and socialize, meet new people and try new things, share your experiences with anyone willing to listen if you so desire. Feel free to start a blog or try to break the record for most friends on a single Facebook account and go ahead and post every picture you have ever taken on your Myspace page. But for the sake of the tuition being paid to put you through college, use your common sense. If you are absolutely furious with your boss or professor, talk to a friend but do not broadcast your feelings to the world and assume no one will ever know.
I, for one, prefer not to share every moment of every day with people I barely know and I make an effort to limit my facebook friends to people I actually talk to. That is the beauty of this country, I can do what I like and you can do what you like. So long as neither of us writes anything libelous or says anything slanderous.