California legislates against libel tourism

I mentioned in a previous posting that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a law to protect American citizens in California from the depredations of libel tourism, whose destination, I am sad to say, is this country.

A couple of days later, two British newspapers caught up with the story. A straightforward account in the Daily Mail, which mentions that the process of protecting Americans from this insiduous practice has moved a little further than I had realized. Not only New York but Illinois has passed such a law and there is one in the pipeline in Florida.

Roy Greenslade reports in the Guardian but, judging by his intervention in the exchange of comments, has only a slender grasp of what he is writing about. Still, I would not like to see him silenced.