In December 2011 I was shocked to open the post and discover that I had been served with a Statement of Claim issued by a Canadian court. I was being sued for $3 million, not for something I had personally written, but for an anonymous comment posted by somebody else on my blog.

Was this truly credible, could a UK citizen living in the UK actually be sued from a Canadian court for a comment posted on a blog hosted by a US-based ISP. The short answer to that is yes, it was not only a genuine libel suit, but a default judgement issued by a Canadian court was enforceable in the UK. Because of the reciprocal arrangements that currently exist between the UK and Canada I faced being wiped out financially, not for something I had personally written, but simply because, like thousands of others, I ran a blog (this one in fact) that enabled others to post comments. Doing nothing was not an option.