The Calcalist business journal summarized the conclusion of a lawsuit relating to a lecture given in 2013 about information security issues on the dark web. The lecture, published on the internet, received harsh critique by posters who claimed there were errors and inaccuracies.  The lecturer filed a libel lawsuit against 26 internet surfers and media people including Ido Keinan, a blogger on the site “Room 404” and the Channel 10 television show “Tzinor Layla”.   Most of the defendants were represented by attorney Jonathan Klinger and his legal clinic that works to prevent the silencing of speech through the court system.  After many years, and after the parties agreed to mediation, the case was concluded with an agreement between the parties.  As part of the settlement, the defendants were not required to publish an apology for their claims or to delete the materials they published. Klinger summarized, “About 25 people are going home today without fear that they will have to pay for the criticism they posted online.”

Keinan of “Room 404” noted the significance of the case’s result. “It is very important to me in terms of journalism and freedom of expression. Those who want to help, I would be happy if they donate to the clinic against lawsuits intended to silence discourse, which was established following this lawsuit and continues to help many people who have been sued for things written online.”

Attorney Klinger concluded saying, “It hurts me that courts allow proceedings to continue in this way and burden the system with lawsuits that will surely be rejected in the end. These days, the students at our clinic, which works in collaboration with the Ono Academic College, are working on drafting a bill that will stop the phenomenon of lawsuits to silence criticism. As part of the proposal we went through and examined how such a (speech silencing) claim could be characterized, and how the defendants’ suffering could be reduced. I know it’s hard to be sued in a lawsuit designed to silence him/her. There is not only a financial threat, but also uncertainty about how the court will decide in the end. Therefore, it will be important to classify these claims in advance and have them rejected outright. I hope that in the next session in the Knesset we will be able to present the proposal to the Knesset members and promote it. ”        

The full article can be found at: https://www.calcalist.co.il/internet/articles/0,7340,L-3848943,00.html