Standing up for Free Speech

Last week i.PH received two demand letters asking us to take down one of our blogs because it allegedly had libelous content.  The companies claiming libel, Stratvisions Inc. and Versomina Inc., threatened legal action against us if we failed to take the site down.

The two demand letters can be seen here:

  
Click on thumbnails to enlarge

Whether they tried to contact the blogger directly to request that the posts be deleted is unclear. But we refuse to take down the blog for a very simple reason — we respect the principle of free speech.

We believe that blogs serve an important purpose in allowing people a venue for expressing their thoughts, ideas and opinions. In the past you had to own a newspaper, radio or TV station to get yourself heard.  This has changed with the advent of the free marketplace of ideas that we know as the Internet We find the threat of legal action against us (and it’s accompanying legal costs) disturbing, to say the least.  But whether or not we agree with what our bloggers have to say, one thing is clear — we respect their right to say it.In fact, i.ph domains are anonymous precisely to promote free speech and encourage people to speak out.  Got a beef against your local politician?  Blog about it.  Know where all the MMDA speed traps are along EDSA? Warn other motorists by posting their locations.  A restaurant served up a cockroach along with your fries?  Upload a photo on to your blog.

Anonymity, and the opportunity to reach a wide audience, gives people a chance to air their truths without fear of harassment and let the public decide. Of course, we are well aware that we have certain responsibilities as a service provider. In this case, if the blog entries are proven to be libelous and there is a court ruling to that effect, we’ll take them down immediately.But until that happens, probably the best thing for all parties involved to do is to air their sides and let their ideas speak for themselves.  Because when all is said and done, the truth shall set you free.