Online Libel: A threat to internet freedom?

New law punishes hacking, online libel, Internet child porn
from: GMA News Online

So this has been a hot topic lately and wow just in time, a law just got signed for great justice!

Now I'm not gonna talk about hacking (which is still cool) or child porn, because we all know know those are pure evil. But more about online libel, because I think some people could abuse it or ruin some people's fun.

But what is libel anyway?

A libel is a malicious, false statement in written media, a broadcast, or otherwise published words.

Ok, so a malicious, false statement, which means something that intends to do harm. But what about those posts meant for shits and giggles?

This is what I'm a bit concerned about. Like if someone tells you online that you look like a dinasour, its not just about that someone who made the false statement. Its also about the people who view it online. People should know when to laugh/shrug it off and when to take it seriously. Like this Cyberbullying thing that was mentioned in this article. If I saw a poster like that online I'd first think it was just there for a prank. Its the age of Photoshop after all. I get that not all people know about it, but hey now you know! Although in my opinion that's one tasteless troll.

I just think that people online should have this certain awareness that these things happen and they should think twice whether to believe it or not. This kinda reminds me of that certain celebrity's war against Encyclopedia Dramatica. That was really gold lol.

But I'm not saying that having fun is good entirely. I mean there are those posts which are really meant to attack people, or tasteless comments that are only thrown because of misplaced emotions. Now that's not playing nice anymore.

The problem is though, it seems its up to the lawyers what constitutes to online libel. I mean what if the lawyer doesn't get the meme lol.

I think the intention of this law is good. It just reminds people to be even more responsible to what they do online. But I'm just saying, that the internet has already been a breeding ground of attention whores who try to be funny. So check first if its legit or not.