Travellers could be sued for hotel rants (Australia)
http://www.news.com.au/travel/story/0,28318,26197059-5014090,00.html
TRAVELLERS who post scathing reviews or comments about hotels or restaurants could be exposing themselves to long and costly legal battles.
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"In cases involving defamation law in some ways the exposure to damages might be the least of their worries because they're often extremely expensive and time consuming. They can drag on for months, if not years.
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"Individuals have the power to damage someone's reputation or put them out of business.
"That might not be their intention, but one of the things about defamation is your intention is irrelevant."
Associate Professor Barbara McDonald, of the University of Sydney, said people could be subject to the defamation laws of any country where their comment was downloaded.
"You could be subject to multiple defamation laws," she said.
"Your comment must be based on true facts and it's often hard to prove truth so you have to be careful.
"If you said a hotel was infested with cockroaches and it wasn't that could be defamatory."
My guess is that it won't typically happen:
- Legal battles are expensive. Reviews that aren't legitimate can probably be removed in less costly ways.
- A company that sues an individual creates a David vs. Goliath situation and will probably lose in the media even if they win in court.
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