John Oliver explains SLAPP suits, lawsuits designed to silence critics through legal costs, after his show's legal fight with coal executive Bob Murray. It covers how such suits work and why state anti-SLAPP laws matter.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN recommends it whenever legal threats against critics or open-source authors come up, often as the best accessible primer on SLAPP suits.
“In my opinion, it's the best one they've ever done with an absolutely magnificent ending”HN comment, 2021
“In my opinion, it's the best one they've ever done with an absolutely magnificent ending”
Best Oliver episode on SLAPP suits with a great ending
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SLAPP suits (acronym for Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) are designed to shut up critics, plain and simple. They're not designed to be won, they're designed to be an annoyance to those that are being sued, dragged on as much as possible, and incur as many legal fees for the defendant as possible. The end goal is simply for other people's self-censorship to kick in. As in, when other people want to criticise Proctorio, there's a chance they're gonna stumble upon this lawsuit and decide against speaking up. Highly recommend this John Oliver video. In my opinion, it's the best one they've ever done with an absolutely magnificent ending: this video
RecommendsnotpiikaOct 2020
“John Oliver's Last Week Tonight episodes on Murray are great watches.”
Last Week Tonight coverage of Murray
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If you haven't already seen them, John Oliver's Last Week Tonight episodes on Murray are great watches. linkthis video
Cites itluc4sdreyerOct 2020
Follow-up episode after Murray's lawsuit
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And after he was sued by Robert Murray for the above episode, the follow up episode [1] won an Emmy award [2] [1] this video [2] link
Cites itmunk-aJun 2021
“John Oliver is actually a really good source for this sort of point”
Oliver on his lawsuit from Murray Energy
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John Oliver is actually a really good source for this sort of point as he dedicated an episode[1] to the trials and tribulations of his lawsuit against Murray Energy - something he described as a SLAPP suit which I think is a fair viewpoint. The replit case is especially interesting since it could be a lot more personal (because the dev behind it previously worked for them and people hold grudges) and also because it might actually be a lot more valid then a lot of other frivolous C&Ds we see (since they were a former employee and it would be impossible to claim they were unaware of how replit worked at a very basic level). I think this lawsuit is a lot riskier than most and replit certainly does have a leg to stand on in open court. 1. this video
