Buying Silence

THE ERA OF WIN AT ALL COSTS,WHETHER LEGAL OR ILLEGAL, IS UPON US. THIS IS THE ERA OF THE SLAPP CASE. Strategic Lawsuits AgainstPublic Participation, or SLAPPs, are designed to intimidate and silence criticsof the wealthy and powerful by confronting them with aggressive and rapacious lawyers,massive legal costs, private investigators, PR companies and hackers. Billionaire oligarchs,corporations and those with skeletons in the cupboard are laundering theirreputations by suing for libel - even when what's been written about them istrue. Their money can overwhelm opponents. Worse still, they compel the mediainto self-censorship - and freedom of speech and the right to information arethe victims. In this timely, insightfuland often shocking book, veteran media lawyer David Hooper explores how thepower of money enables the super-rich to crush their critics through SLAPPs. Fullyupdated with a new chapter on how Mohamed Al Fayed and his enablers used thelaw to cover up his horrific campaign of abuse, Buying Silence explainshow those with something to hide try to stop you knowing about it, how theirlawyers help them do it and - most importantly - what the government urgentlyneeds to do to stop them.