Taiwanese Blogger Jailed for Writing a Bad Review: Outrageous?

by SodaHead Food Posted 2011/06/24 21:02:20

Related Topics: Restaurant, Defamation, Blogger, Review, Taiwanese, Bad Review, Crime, Liu, jail, Prison, Taiwan, Law, Car, Lifestyle, SodaHead, Cars, Green

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	Yes	291 votes	91%
	No	30 votes	9%

Gawker reports that a Taiwanese blogger named Liu was sentenced to 30 days in jail for writing a "defamatory" review of a local restaurant.

In July 2008, Liu, a food and lifestyle blogger, visited a noodle restaurant in Taichung, later writing that the food "was too salty, the place was unsanitary because there were cockroaches and that the owner was a 'bully' because he let customers park their cars haphazardly, leading to traffic jams."

In addition to the jail time, Liu was fined $7,000. The Tai Pei Times reports that an appeal has been denied.

+21

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Atmara 2011/06/24 22:59:42

Yes

+11
Beyond stupid. There has to be more to this story
>> See Replies

More polls by SodaHead Food

mm61675 2012/02/20 03:20:30

Yes

but because of where he lives, unfortunately that is normal

reply
Adam Steidl 2011/07/25 05:41:34

Yes

That's just messed up.

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JoannaMorrow 2011/07/11 03:01:32

Yes

yeah only b/c that place sounds discusting!!!! yuck

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MattRobb 2011/07/04 08:07:25

No

HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN STONED AS PUNISHMENT...

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MattRobb to MattRobb 2011/07/04 08:08:15

Wait...that isn't punishment, that's awesome!

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Sahara 2011/07/02 10:05:25

Yes

Nah dont believe this story!!! http://www.new.avena.co.uk/im...

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Peon of the Masses 2011/07/02 01:39:33

No

+1
Not for Taiwan.

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stevegtexas@aol.com 2011/07/01 16:36:50

Yes

Yes, OUTRAGEOUS..... someone getting jailed for a defamatory blog? Cmon! stevegtexas@aol.com 7/2011

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Nudenz 2011/07/01 05:00:32

Yes

So much for free speech.

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stevegt... to Nudenz 2011/07/01 16:37:34

i guess they dont have free speech there? IT COSTS.

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Lily Blooms Eternal 2011/06/30 07:54:12

Yes

That's crazy all right.

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sam ashton 2011/06/30 01:55:33

Yes

total bunk. maybe she had a beef with the service, but to be held accountable for a bad review - sorry! This is just another one of those extreme cases. She (blogger) should have permitted the owner to preview the review and possible correct the inadequacies without resorting to taking her to court. But look at what gordon ramsey does on his show -- half of the places he "fixes" should never have been in business in the first place. Trust me the food business has a lot of crappy places and god only knows why they're still open.

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drdos1943 2011/06/29 19:39:42 (edited)

No

Her punishment may have been a little excessive, but most of her blog was false or unsubstantiated. If I had been the restaurant owner, I would have filed charges as well.

The following is the newspaper report:

http://taipeitimes.com/News/t...

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Michael Hertel 2011/06/29 10:15:12

Yes

Owner must be connect to political powers, or the review was untrue. Note, the owner does not decide on how people park usually.

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Ava Alexander 2011/06/28 21:18:41

Yes

+3
But at least he wasn't living in the USSR during Lenin and Stalin where the reviewer would of been thrown into a gulag and forgotten. I would take 30 days over being in a gulag for my entire life anytime. However, that is pretty stupid to be thrown in jail for 30 days for a bad review. What's this world coming to??? Another example of lunacy in the world theatre of the absurd.

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billycat98 2011/06/27 21:34:48

Yes

hes a reviewer if he doesnt like it its okay

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edifyguy 2011/06/27 13:20:22

No

+2
If, as one person says they have researched, the review was not true, then it was not a free speech issue at all, but libel. Libel is the publishing of knowingly false statements about a person or entity, and is indeed a crime in most countries, including the u.S.A. I think the punishment fits the crime. What the blogger did was the intellectual equivalent of getting angry and taking a sledgehammer to business. Instead of malicious destruction of property, it's malicious destruction of reputation.

Let this be a lesson: libel and slander are still illegal, and what you do on the internet can catch up to you!

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Ava Ale... to edifyguy 2011/06/28 21:20:16

Oh, well, NOW I feel stupid!!

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edifyguy to Ava Ale... 2011/07/01 23:05:24

+2
Don't. The question was posed poorly, like so many on here, and it was easy to get sucked into a half-truth. Most did, obviously.

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Ava Ale... to edifyguy 2011/07/02 02:18:22

~Sobbing~ Thanks for making me feel better.

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Myrle Hulme 2011/06/27 11:57:09

Yes

Then most food critics should be jailed

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Bart 2011/06/27 11:45:42 (edited)
Student 2011/06/27 09:35:39

No

My husband often tells me that other countries are not as liberal as America. 4 instance if u speak against someone N the goverment, Ur entire family disappears N the nite and no 1 asks about u because they know what has happenD.

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$$*gat*$$ BL39 2011/06/27 07:06:56

Yes

+1
that is communism for ya..and the dupes are trying to bring it here

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CyrilMa... to $$*gat*... 2011/07/01 03:19:49

+1
You do realize Taiwan isn't the People's Republic of China, right? Completely different government. Your country just doesn't recognize it, because it lost the balls to tell China to back down. Neither does most of the world, which is ridiculous. They do have elections, with I believe only one Communist party running.

So, please, how is Taiwan trying to bring Communism to New York when they're still trying to keep it out of their own island?

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$$*gat*... to CyrilMa... 2011/07/01 05:25:48

I am talking about the dems bringing it here,, not the Taiwanese..sorry for the miscommunication,,,

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CyrilMa... to $$*gat*... 2011/07/06 00:31:45

+1
Ah, sorry. Yeah, I can agree there. My apologies for flying off the handle, I just get pissed about the whole Taiwan issue easily.

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ClassicRockFan 2011/06/27 05:34:38

Yes

goodness... what happened to the bill of rights?

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$$*gat*... to Classic... 2011/06/27 07:07:16

they don't have one

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Classic... to $$*gat*... 2011/06/27 16:00:26

+1
very true

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S.e.carson 2011/06/27 05:17:16

Yes

its defs over the top, if it was filled with much worse stuff it could be reasonable

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Nakia Roberson 2011/06/27 03:02:54

Yes

my gosh, if the food and the restaurant is bad, well hell, the public has the right to know...now I dare the judge to go eat there...I wonder how quickly he'll let Liu go then...!

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GiovanniArmani 2011/06/27 02:25:19

Yes

+1
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WOW.... Thank god I live in the U.S.A.

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KAoTicRAiD3R 2011/06/27 02:09:44

Yes

Here he wouldn't have been locked up but some scumbag lawyer would have sued for 2 million and won because our system is so much better...

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Judge Peter Hill 2011/06/27 01:54:59

Yes

Outrageous, yes; illegal, no. Remember this happened overseas where they do not have a First Amendment! This is the whole point of our First Amendment: It allows you to speak out without fear of being arrested by the Government!

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Mandi Pandi 2011/06/27 01:53:17

Yes

that's dumb. yaay america for still having "freedom of speech".

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Dallas 2011/06/27 00:36:52

Yes

Another example at political correctness at work.

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Rave 2011/06/26 23:21:30

Yes

I thought maybe there was more to this, all I could find was that she had lied in the review and created false conditions that did not exist in the restaurant, she had had something against the owner and written a poor review on purpose, inspectors came into the restaurant to check up on it after the restaurant owner had sued the woman for the false review and confirmed that the woman had not been honest in her review. And official reviews are supposed to be truth, objective and fair so that's why she was sentenced. Still kinda strange.

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edifyguy to Rave 2011/06/27 13:13:09

+3
No, I disagree. Freedom of speech does not include slander and libel. Printing and/or broadcasting knowingly false material in an attempt to harm someone is, and should be, illegal. It is in the US, as in most other places in the world. If your finding is correct, as I suspect it is, this person deserves to be punished. I don't think it should be an unreasonably long sentence, but it should be long enough that she and others will think twice before lying about someone in an attempt to harm them.

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w2xad 2011/06/26 22:11:09

Yes

But that IS China,Taiwan.

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