Many will be aware that David Walker of the Church Times site has been forced by the threat of legal action to remove his material about SSG and the former SPCK bookshops, and the subseqent campaign by many Christian bloggers to support him by duplicating the material.
J Mark Brewer is now pursuing some of these bloggers with "cease and desist" notices and Sam Norton of Elizaphanian fame (having taken legal advice here in the UK) is among the first to ignore the "threats" and post the content of these emails and notices.
You can see what the detail of this is here
What is intriguing about his situation is whether any of the information provided does anything other than express opinions and share facts. Moreover J Mark Brewer feels that his reputation and that of SSG are in danger from what has been written about his and their actions. He challenges Sam about whether it is appropriate to slander a fellow Christian and quotes Exodus and Mark's Gospel
[2] Exodus 20:16 – the Ninth Commandment; Psalm 101:5 – “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off: him that hath an high look and a proud heart will not I suffer.” Jesus also preached against slander; e.g., Saint Mark 7:22.
and then goes onto to threaten legal action which is surely against Scripture as well.
It has interesting parallels with another blogging legal dispute which Tallskinnykiwi records here
'Slander' implies that the information being reported is untrue.
Posted by: PamBG | 30 July 2008 at 22:28
Hmmm Pam - I am not sure that the use of the text really relates to this kind of situation anyway - unfortunately in English law slander also refers to something which may be "malicious". However it would appear that J Mark Brewer intends to pursue the matter in the American courts
Posted by: Tom Allen | 31 July 2008 at 21:49