There’s no point at all in my rehashing what has happened to Kathleen. We all know. The blogging communities response has been swift and fierce – rightly so. I don’t imagine the lawyer in question has made many friends in his profession over the last couple of days.
I wanted to write a blistering, thundering post too because, believe me, that’s how I felt after reading the subpoena Kathleen received. I consider her a friend and ally of a good many years now – as I do Dave. They both do what they do because they care. They care about their own autistic children and they care about all of our autistic children and they do what is right – they question what is suspicious and they support what is worthwhile.
But I can’t write a blistering, thundering post. The last few weeks have been something of an education for me on how the world works. I am even having to be incredibly careful about how I write this post, a tribute to the tenacity of my friend Kathleen.
Where my American friends can rest easy in the knowledge that their law supports them in their right to speak freely, mine does not. Where Kathleen can put together such an excellent response, I – and all other British bloggers – cannot. Unless we are very rich, or insured or employed by a paper that is insured, we are totally stymied.
Please rest assured that I have very recent knowledge of this process. To the extent that whilst I can say that I have first hand knowledge I cannot discuss it, I cannot (and will not) name names. I don’t like this but I have no option. This is modern Britain. Bloggers can be silenced. I hope that Kathleen is never, ever silenced. The world needs truth and integrity.
Left Brain Right Brain 
I know what you mean. Shoemaker is probably wishing he hadn’t bothered with this. His google hits are not looking too good right now.
I am also more aware of the risk to bloggers of legal action. I rephrased a few things I’d written in my post about this to clarify that I was just stating my opinion.
Unfortunately, even stating your opinion in the UK can still be actionable 😦
I still think the internet could reroute around it. We’ll see.
Kev,
I hate to tell you this–but Seidel is the best in autism blogging.
You are pretty darned good, but no one comes close to her thoroughness and professionalism.
Yep, Kevin, I had read about that. I just looked at the entry from the link you provided. I had no idea it was that bad. So, if I were to print about someone, in the Land of Uk, “I hate you, because you suck!” I could be hauled into court, have a judgement against me, and have to pay money?
Your government also does not allow you to have personal weapons.
Not even pocket-knives, from what I read lately.
Matt,
you left out another of Kathleen’s traits, compassion.
I think she and Kev are about tied. Kathleen’s style is very professional and she’s very thorough, but Kev produces articles on a broader range of topics that get a lot of coverage because they are more … topical… newsy?? current?
The problem is that Kathleen’s stuff ought to have been making it into the NYT for the past two years or so, it’s not her fault that the stuff she covers isn’t in the news exactly, it’s the fault of the major media outlets.
Not that Kev would mind taking second place to Kathleen. 🙂 I think maybe she’s in her own category… like the Pulitzer-Prize-worthy kind of category.
Justthiguy,
I also had no idea until my recent blogging adventure just how suer-friendly the UK laws were. According to the legal advice I received it literally comes down to how much money you have.
Matt & Ms Cark,
I think Matt is absolutely correct, but I also think that Kathleen left behind the realms of simple blogging a long time ago – what she does is beyond that.
If I might make a comparison I think I’m more the burger n chips (fries) of autism blogging whereas Kathleen (and Kristina and Amanda and MOM-NOS too) are where you go to have a nice quality steak and a bottle of decent Californian red wine to go with it.
(there are a few autism blogs where you can get a nasty case of food poisoning too)
But really, the point is – everyone should be able to write their own thing and speak their mind.