POLITICS: Clinton Had to Modify Book for British Publication

Britain has tough libel laws and so for Bill Clinton to remove any chance of him getting sued he had to make a few modifications to his recently published book, My Life. Most of the changes made were to portions that referred to Ken Starr. The book continues to sell well in America and the UK despite claims of inaccuracies from critics.



The book has actually sold quite well in Britain, and has sold 1.5 million copies in the US even though many passages are questionable.

For just one example, in this article, www.haaretzdaily.com...

Ehud Barak claims that Bill Clinton misreprepresents portions of peace talks that were held in January of 2000 by stating that he (Bill Clintion) was responsible for the breakdown of Israeli-Syrian relations when Barak claims that Clinton was not even present for many of the meetings.




[edit on 7/25/2004 by lockheed]

[edit on 7-25-2004 by Valhall]

That is so messed up. An American writes a book, and is liable under UK law because the book is sold there? WTF?

Isn't that kind of like the Iranians wanting to kill Salman Rushdie for a book written half a world away?

If I make an inflammatory post on this board and it is read in the UK, does that make me liable? (Not that I would, love ya Brits!)

Originally posted by Q
If I make an inflammatory post on this board and it is read in the UK, does that make me liable? (Not that I would, love ya Brits!

)

You're on a Brit owned board. Welcome to the World Wide Web.

You say this is British owned, Rupert Murdoch owns most of UK media doesn't he? Does he own this board too?

No. That would be SimonGray of Swindon, England.

rupert murdoch is australian. he married a brit & does own several businesses here

Originally posted by justyc
rupert murdoch is australian. he married a brit & does own several businesses here

Both countries must be so proud

Just kidding Rupert, please dont bounce me off the board

I think this story just shows you how crappy the US libel laws are... and how crappy Bill Clinton's book is

Not US libel laws, UK libel laws.

Here in the UK you can be sued just for looking at someone funny.

Oh, ya... maybe its a compromise, US libel laws are a bit to easy and UK libel laws are a good bit to harsh