What is defamation?

When I am typing this I should consider whether I am defaming anyone in anyway. Defamation is a communication to at least one person that lowers the reputation of an identifiable third person, where the communicator has no legal defence. So in simple terms I should not say things like “Luke Vanderzeil is shit at basketball because he can’t egan eat kebabs properly”. Luke Vanderzeil may get offended and decide to take legal action against me. I really hope he doesn’t.. because I’m a uni student and I spent all my money making that curry last night.

Can I be held responsible for defamation in my comments section?Something interesting to note is that you or I can be held responsible for any defamation that is in the comments section of our blogs. A easy solution to this is to make sure you have to approve comments before they go through. This way if the no good Luke Vanderzeil commented on this blog “Kenton is shit because he wears corduroy” then I can disapprove the comment.  By the way Kenton is not shit and he pulls it off.

Can I be liable for defamatory content that I link to?  

Yes. I am responsible for everything on my blog. I can technically liable if I link defamatory content such as this on my blog.

Can I be sued overseas?

Yes. Seeing that the internet is somewhat borderless I have to be careful of overseas laws as something that may not deemed defamation here may be deemed offensive somewhere else.

“I can say what I want? Freedom of speech and that…”

Freedom of speech is not a legal defence in Australia law.