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VPD tweeting and defamatory hyperlinks
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December 9, 2010
VPD embraces social media
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has launched its own Twitter account and is tweeting police calls it receives today. “The turn to social media is an attempt to control their public image,” said SFU communication professor Peter Chow-White.” Utilizing social media enables them to manage their public profile and, at the same time, communicate with the public.” One question he would ask is: Why do this now?
Defamatory hyperlinks
Freedom of expression is at risk if the Supreme Court of Canada rules that providing a hyperlink to a website can be defamatory. There is a fear this will lead to people refraining from posting links to websites. “Legal action like this infringes on the open access and democratic nature of the Internet,” said SFU communication professor Peter Chow-White. “A link in and of itself is not offensive, even if the content located at the link is offensive."
Peter Chow-White, 778.782.7289; petercw@sfu.ca
The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has launched its own Twitter account and is tweeting police calls it receives today. “The turn to social media is an attempt to control their public image,” said SFU communication professor Peter Chow-White.” Utilizing social media enables them to manage their public profile and, at the same time, communicate with the public.” One question he would ask is: Why do this now?
Defamatory hyperlinks
Freedom of expression is at risk if the Supreme Court of Canada rules that providing a hyperlink to a website can be defamatory. There is a fear this will lead to people refraining from posting links to websites. “Legal action like this infringes on the open access and democratic nature of the Internet,” said SFU communication professor Peter Chow-White. “A link in and of itself is not offensive, even if the content located at the link is offensive."
Peter Chow-White, 778.782.7289; petercw@sfu.ca