The wife of the new head of Britians MI6 has caused a potential security breach after publishing photographs and personal details on Facebook. Foreign Secretary David Miliband has defended the next head of MI6 saying “What are you leading the news with that … The fact that there’s a picture that the head of the MI6 goes swimming. Wow that really is exciting. It is not a state secret that he wears Speedo swimming trunks, for goodness[...]

A plaintiff in a defamation case must prove three elements including a publication to one other than the person defamed, a false statement of fact that is understood as being of and concerning the plaintiff and tending to harm the reputation of plaintiff. Finally, if the plaintiff is a public figure, he or she must also prove actual malice.

The main defense in a defamation case is “truth” but there are other defenses such as privilege, which covers statements in a courtroom among other limited exceptions, “opinion”, which means the statement was not one of truth but a personal view and “fair comment on a matter of public interest”, which deals primarily with ones views on a public matter. Note: Not all defenses are recognized in all locations.

Slander is spoken defamation and libel is defamation that has been printed or is otherwise fixed.