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The dark arts: Cancel culture & freedom of speech

03 February 2021 / Nicholas Dobson
Issue: 7919 / Categories: Features , Human rights , Technology
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Nicholas Dobson navigates the murky world of free speech & cancel culture

Back in 1971 Coca-Cola ran a TV advertisement offering universal harmony in a bottle of Coke. All together now: ‘I‘d like to teach the world to sing/In perfect harmony/I’d like to buy the world a Coke/And keep it company.’ Some years later the internet was able to offer universal connectivity, if not always harmony.

But, as the COVID-19 lockdown demonstrated, the internet can be a force for good. Since 23 March 2020 when the stop whistle blew on normal life, it’s been the internet that’s kept people and businesses connected, enabled online shopping, afforded smooth remote working and video connectivity for many and kept life’s essentials ticking. The internet has also developed into an astonishingly rich and deep mine of information on all aspects of the human condition.

But, of course, in every Eden lurks a serpent. And once again the oily snake is human nature itself. For if an invention can do good, it

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NEWS
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The long-predicted death of the billable hour may finally be here—and this time, it’s armed with a scythe. In a sweeping critique of time-based billing, Ian McDougall, president of the LexisNexis Rule of Law Foundation, argues in this week's NLJ that artificial intelligence has made hourly charging ‘intellectually, commercially and ethically indefensible’
From fake authorities to rent reform, the civil courts have had a busy start to 2026. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold surveys a procedural landscape where guidance, discretion and discipline are all under strain
Fact-finding hearings remain a fault line in private family law. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Rylatt and Robyn Laye of Anthony Gold Solicitors analyse recent appeals exposing the dangers of rushed or fragmented findings
As the Winter Olympics open in Milan and Cortina, legal disputes are once again being resolved almost as fast as the athletes compete. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Ian Blackshaw of Valloni Attorneys examines the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s (CAS's) ad hoc divisions, which can decide cases within 24 hours
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