And, while survivors routinely waive their privacy rights whenever they speak about their abuse, they cannot waive the rights of their perpetrators. The perpetrator's surviving fanmily, however, may have their own separate and independent privacy interests that may be implicated in a recounting of some of the personal details of a perpetrator's actions. This discussion of legal problems is not just one more example of how the legal system is stacked against survivors. There are ways of working around these hurdles and relating compelling accounts with a minimum of risk. This and other newsletters do it with every issue.
Publications often try to corroborate as much of an account as possible through independent sources.
For example, they can use police and other reports, as well as the accounts of others such as survivors' families or the friends in whom they confided at the time. When survivors tell their stories, they, too, can limit their comments to what they know can be corroborated by others. Publication of information already publicly known also is not an invasion of privacy. Likewise any details revealed at a public trial can be used with little fear of a privacy or libel suit. Finally, in both types of actions, the subject of the statements must be identified or identifiable in order to maintain a lawsuit.