Juan Cole who writes on Informed Comment was recently threatened with a lawsuit by the Middle East Media Research Institute for an article he wrote that was also reprinted on anti-war.com. This type of action seeks to silence blog criticism and will be a tool that others use if successful.
Mr. Cole is asking for people to email memri@memri.org and register a protest to this action. Respectful, carefully crafted emails that the blog community is very capable of. It is time to defend one of our own.
Let's mobilize and defend our ability to express our views and ideas. This type of SLAPP suit is a tool to silence dissenting opinions, one that has no place in America and on the internet. As Chris Bowers said on MyDD, "A lobbying group is trying to silence blog criticism of its actions by levelling a lawsuit against an indepdent blogger who can't possibly compete with the financial resources the lobbying group will bring to bear in the legal case. What's next, Republicans trying to shut down the entire left-wing blogopshere through well-funded and completely unjustified lawsuits?"
It's time to be counted.