 |
 |
|
Receipt of an innocuous email inadvertainly requesting the personal address of this website's editor, hid a sinister intent of legal action and claims of defamation against a leading UK manufacturer and supplier of electronic cigarettes based in Wales; by this website. Following one prolonged phone call to the company and three emails from their legal department, it was finally established what was actually going on. Chris Ingram, Unionsafety website editor takes up the story: "Receiving a request for details of the address of this website's registrant, is not a common occurrence, especially as all the information required to be made public is already in the public domain. But receiving an email demanding to be given the registrants address without any given reason, is even rarer and does not exactly create congenial feelings toward the organisation from which such a request comes. Further threatening legal action in a subsequent email without, again, being honest and open as to the nature of the reason for the reques and providing the relevant information forming the basis of the request; is a very bad way of conducting business and is typical of major companies when dealing with website providers and social networks.
Finally after several hours, Chris says that he was eventually given the full details of the problem which the company concerned chose to deal with in an ambiguous and threatening manner. "It appears that the company concerned were at odds with a news item about e-cigarettes which was posted on this website in November 2013, which has only just come to the attention of the e-cig company mentioned He added: "Rather than address perceived errors in the news item in an atmosphere of openness and cooperation, the legal and HR manager decided to weigh in with threats even before detailing exactly what the problem was as they saw it; and without identifying the source of the problem!" Reading the wording of the email which finally, after a lengthy phonecall and two email requests for information; identified the source of the problem, one can easily see how this can be taken as personally threatening: " Please confirm within 48 hours that you have removed the offending webpage, in which case no further action will be taken. If this confirmation is not received and/or the webpage is not removed, we reserve the right to issue proceedings against you seeking relief for defamation. If proceedings become necessary, our remedies may include an injunction, damages, legal costs and interest." It was after several emails, that the problem was actually identified as being a November 2013 news item about e-cigarettes entitled, "Sex, Gimmicks, Vapour Kits And The Promotion Of Nicotine Addiction" which allegedly contained inaccuracies and which the company concerned claimed was defamatory and would affect their business and profits! Examining the article in light of the information which had to be dragged out of the company, it was clear that the way in which the article was written, led to concerns and in one instance could be read as misleading in that it could appear to include the specific company in being accused of not testing their e-cig product, although that was not the intention." In the event, the original article was re-written to bring it up to date anyway, and in doing so; the concerns of the company also addressed. It is a pity that rather than issueing threats, the correct approach would have been to openly advise me of errors, without the demand that I take down the article or be sued!" Chris concluded: "All articles and news items published on this website are fully researched and sourced, as can be seen from every news item. That will continue to be the case and indeed, without being able to determine the source of any news article, it will not be published by this editor. However, it may not be possible in some cases to publicly identify at the end of the article, the true source. But this may happen only in the rarest of cases." Source: unionsafety See also: "Sex, Gimmicks, Vapour Kits And The Promotion Of Nicotine Addiction" |
 |
Threatening and bullying seems to be the modus operandi of British business."