FWD: Libel Suit Leads to Destruction of Books
Cambridge University Press has agreed to destroy all unsold copies of a 2006 book by two American authors, "Alms for Jihad," following a libel action brought against it in England, the latest development in what critics say is an effort by Saudis to quash discussion of their alleged role in aiding terrorism
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From what you wrote someone wrote a book with some claims in it, then someone complained, the the publishers agreed with the one who complained and decided to destroy the book.
Seemingly it was legal action in the UK, and the publisher is in the US.
Thus if the publisher didn't agree with then they could just ignore the case.
But according to what you quoted the publisher agreed that the book was "entirely and manifestly false."
Note that I'm from a different cultural background: we don't have the unlimited freedom of speech the US has. Thus I have no problem with this. Seems even logical to me: If someone lied about me, I'd want them to stop.
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The problem people are having is that Cambridge didn't do squat to fight it. If they thought the book had truthful enough to merit being published in the first place, then they should've gone to bat for it. It's possible that they screwed up and let an obviously libelous book through, but it's just as likely they're simply caving to pressure from a very powerful group.
If someone lied about me, I'd want them to stop.
The thing is, if someone was telling a hurtful truth about you, you'd also want them to stop. If the truth was hurtful enough, you might even claim they were lying and libeling you to make it happen.
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Because this isn't simply banning books in one country, or bleeding money from scholars who don't have any, it's destruction of the information on an international level. Also, what jsarek said.
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To increase your journal popularity and pagerank, we have added it to our new catalog.
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