Legal Threats

As much as I hate to admit it, I think I find myself in agreement with the folks over at Right Wing News.

While I recognize the danger of this, and also am not sure of a good way to implement it, I feel that there ought to be some sort of penalty which can be levied against people who file lawsuits with no merit. Legal cost, certainly, at the minimum. Maybe even a fine for 'wasting the courts time'.

Obviously, It can't be implemented simply because a law suit fails. There needs to be a way of establishing that a lawsuit had no merit whatsoever. Otherwise, it will prevent all but the absolute cases. That's not what I want - just the stupid ones.

Why do I want to see this? Because, more and more, people/companies with large pockets are censoring other people merely with the threat of a lawsuit. See, fighting a lawsuit, even if there's no way you'd lose, takes a lot of $$ and energy. So, a lot of people will give in to threats simply because they don't have a means to stand strong. Those with deep pockets know this, so it because an easy intimidation tool.

I know it's more complicated than this - but there has to be some solution.

(The fact is that, even though he's named in the suit, Franken will be protected by his publisher on this on. So, it's not him I'm worried about).