cat slave diary

Month: May 2009

  • Stupid libel laws

    This is disgusting.

    http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20227086.200-comment-dont-criticise-or-well-sue.html

    If you’re in the UK, stand up to the legal bullies. Ask your MP to change the libel laws to reverse the burden of proof, and only allow actual UK citizens (and not companies or associations – foreign or not) the ability to sue.

    I was once sued for defamation and had to settle as I had zero resources to fight it, and so had to apologize. I know how hard it is to state something you believe (or know) to be true and win in such cases.

    Reputation is hard won, and I know how damaging hurtful or factually incorrect statements are, but the UK libel laws are legal censorship instruments, abused by anyone with enough money to sue.

    In this particular case, it looks like observable facts, peer reviewed studies and a valid opinion based upon those observable facts and studies will lose. It’s a sad day for the UK when facts are not a valid defense.

  • Pretty is not necessarily secure

    I feel sorry for folks trying their hardest to be something they’re not.

    It’s time for me to put something down I’ve been saying at conferences for years. If you’re not a programmer or developer by trade, please don’t write software or web apps. Dreamweaver does not maketh you a programmer. Ajax is not a magic path to studly geekiness.

    You’re simply unqualified. Get someone who can do it right, the first time. Sadly of course, lots of developers are in the same boat, but at least they know what the tools of our trade look like.

    I wouldn’t dream of doing marketing, cooking a meal for 300 Z-listers, ripping out a squidgy bit from inside someone else, arguing a case in front of judge (although I do play a lawyer in the lunchroom), or doing a corporation’s taxes in a zillion years.

    Why does the opposite seemingly rarely apply?