Seems like people are getting dragged to court for defamation for just about anything these days.
They just can’t take any criticism (truth/reality) at all… :loco: …but this did happen in Taichung City, which is also know as the cultural center of Taiwan :roflmao: …how dare anyone say that a bowl of beef noodles is too salty in this city!
There is something fundamentally wrong here if one can’t express his/her impressions about a product or service (negative) in a blog/post/article without possibly being taken to court for defamation by the party being reviewed (if this party feels the spirit of the writing may be damaging to their business).
I have been told by some students of mine that the founding father of Taiwan has some rule where you shouldn’t say anything that might insult others? Correct me if I am wrong but it was to that effect. I have noticed lately that Taiwan has become a place where you can get sued for just about anything.
So, by extension it wouldn’t be wise to make any posts in the Blacklist of Schools thread because a bushiban owner could theoretically sue for defamation as well. However, the newspapers and TV news broadcasts can say anything they want with impunity. Hmmmm. So much for free speech in Taiwan. :loco:
This also reminds of a local food tasting/promotion program the wife was watching the other day. This crafty boss of a shaved ice shop decided to add a new flavor to her ever expanding menu. This new shaved ice flavor consisted of those little fish you find in just about every other dish here, and some strawberry syrup. I had to put my book down and get the skinny on this as this new flavor seemed like a match made in heaven. The laoban showed the host how she prepared this new flavor by covering the mountain of ice with a handful of these little fish, and then topping it off with only the best strawberry [strike]plasticizer[/strike] syrup vintage. It of course boiled down to the loaban tasting her own creation for the host and the cameras. We’ve all seen chicks in a bikinis on FearFactor struggle with a mouthful of mutant larvae, and the expression on the laoban’s face was priceless (FearFactor style) as she chomped down on a spoonful of her concoction, and barely managed to keep it down . The final verdict was a 5-star rating (out of 5) :loco: …but hey, it looks like sht, it tastes like sht, it smells like sh*t…it must be a {insert item name}
Uh oh, Hungry Girl (hungryintaipei.blogspot.com/) better watch out… But really? That is completely absurd, it’s just an opinion, on a blog. Taiwan never fails to impress.
Defamation is a potential civil offense in most places. The problem is the courts are applying it unreasonably and accepting cases that have no merit. They are also criminalizing trivial cases of defamation which is more chilling and the real outrage.
The prosecutors should never have accepted the case, or having accepted it never pushed for a criminal charge. 30 days for blogging a restaurant review is simply ludicrous and one more reason legal reform is desperately needed.
There’s a bit more info in the Liberty Times: 部落客惡評麵店 賠20萬判拘役.
That says the 30-day prison term was suspended for two years (unless I’m reading it wrong, which is quite possible). Either way, though: What country is this supposed to be again?
The Taipei Times has translated this as 30 days in detention and 2 years probation. I’m guessing that the correct translation should be a 30 day suspended sentence, so she has not actually be jailed.
You know the CCP has filed this one away to bring up the next time Taiwan or anyone else complains about legal freedoms in China, similarly to how they release their own hogwash reports on human rights abuses in the US/UK every year. The simpleton judge who handed down this verdict and the prosecutors who accepted the case have no business whatsoever practicing law and should be immediately relieved of their duties and sent back to law school.
Being sent to jail for saying the noodles are too salty and the shop’s parking facilities are disorganized on a personal blog? For every inch Taiwan manages to claw for itself forward in international credibility/sympathy, bungling idiocy like this casts it back 10 miles.
Maybe WHO was correct when they refered to Taiwan as a province of China.
The fact that a judge passed such a sentence is in my opinion ridiculous. You would think a judge had better things to do. This would never get on the court roll in most other countries.
