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Digital Culture

Ok…IANAL, but I am signif

Ok…IANAL, but I am significantly interested in law. This is some of the worst reporting I've ever seen on a legal matter:

'Spirit of Satan' may be considered by U. S. Supreme Court

“What is “the spirit of Satan?” The U.S. Supreme Court may have to answer that question if it accepts a recently appealed Iowa case in which an Iowa woman claimed a pastor defamed her by calling her “the spirit of Satan.” “

Now…first off….the Court has to decide no such thing. This is a libel case, compounded by a bit of church/state stuff. But in no instance does this have to touch on the actual existence of supernatural beings. To me, it looks like the court could simply find that libel is a tort that stands outside seperation of church and state for the purposes of determining if a statement itself is libelous. If someone within a religious denomination wants to insult someone in the same (or a different) denomination with language that offends, I see no reason why that can not be construed as libel. One quick definition of libel found online is: “Libel and slander are legal claims for false statements of fact about a person that are printed, broadcast, spoken or otherwise communicated to others.” Libel being the written instance, slander being the spoken.

NOW…if the Court is going to be forced to consider the truth/falsity of the statements in question, rather than the “intent to harm”….well….they may be in trouble. My guess is that in a case like this, where the language is religious in nature it is the belief of the injured party that will matter. That is, the injured party believes the statement to be true (as well as the defendant, I suppose), so the court could rule that those facts are enough to find libel in this case.

On the other hand, nothing would make me jump around in joy more to see the Supreme Court offer a ruling that said “Can't be libel. No such thing as Satan.” Hahahahahahahaha….

By griffey

Jason Griffey is the Director of Strategic Initiatives at NISO, where he works to identify new areas of the information ecosystem where standards expertise is useful and needed. Prior to joining NISO in 2019, Jason ran his own technology consulting company for libraries, has been both an Affiliate at metaLAB and a Fellow and Affiliate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, and was an academic librarian in roles ranging from reference and instruction to Head of IT at the University of TN at Chattanooga.

Jason has written extensively on technology and libraries, including multiple books and a series of full-periodical issues on technology topics, most recently AI & Machine Learning in Libraries and Library Spaces and Smart Buildings: Technology, Metrics, and Iterative Design from 2018. His newest book, co-authored with Jeffery Pomerantz, will be published by MIT Press in 2024.

He has spoken internationally on topics such as artificial intelligence & machine learning, the future of technology and libraries, decentralization and the Blockchain, privacy, copyright, and intellectual property. A full list of his publications and presentations can be found on his CV.
He is one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries for the Measure the Future project (http://measurethefuture.net), an open hardware project designed to provide actionable use metrics for library spaces. He is also the creator and director of The LibraryBox Project (http://librarybox.us), an open source portable digital file distribution system.

Jason can be stalked obsessively online, and spends his free time with his daughter Eliza, reading, obsessing over gadgets, and preparing for the inevitable zombie uprising.

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