Further update to Libel Reform Bill

Dear Libel Reform supporter,

First, I apologise if this email seems rushed. I am busy working in America this week, but I urgently wanted to give you some important updates on libel reform.

1. The Defamation Bill had its Second Reading in the House of Lords on Tuesday 9 October – this means the end is in sight. You can read the text of the debate here http://bit.ly/Rf0rjO Look at how many references there were to the threat of the libel laws to science, consumers and citizens, this is thanks to your help.

2. The Bill is better than the current law, but still deeply flawed. I will not go into detail, but the lack of a robust public interest defence, the lack of a clause to stop corporations silencing critics and nothing detailed on free speech on the internet are all major concerns.

3. The Bill could become law by early next year, so we have only a few weeks to campaign for a good strong Bill, rather than a poor feeble Bill.

4. I gave a talk at Google (London) over the summer, and as a result the organizers made a donation of £500 to the campaign. In fact, the nice people at Google went on to double the donation, but we still need £10,000 to fund the campaign in this final phase of intense lobbying to help achieve meaningful libel reform. I promise that this will be the last time I will be asking for funds for the Libel Reform Campaign.

5. You may have heard that I received a libel threat last week from the distributor of a magazine called What Doctors Don’t Tell You. A few people generously offered to donate to a defence fund. I do not think that the threat will materialise, but in any case I would prefer any donations be made to the Libel Reform Campaign. I refer you back to point (4).

If you can spare a fiver or a tenner, then please visit the campaign’s Just Giving page. http://www.justgiving.com/libelreform2012

History is in front of us. Thanks to all your help and support over the last four years we have a real chance to get good strong libel law, please help us again now.

Simon Singh.

Ps. You can read about my recent libel threat in the Guardian http://bit.ly/O7grGQ and the Guardian’s editorial on libel reform here http://bit.ly/UCfMRN

Pps This isn’t just a UK problem, as 60 international NGOs pointed out this week English libel law chills free speech across the globe. Read their letter to the PM here http://goo.gl/TBf2G


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