Good post. I'd note that the correct libertarian line about whether there should be libel laws is unclear. Richard Epstein thinks New York Times v. Sullivan amounted to an uncompensated taking of property rights from public figures. While I don't buy that, I do agree with Ian Ayres' point that defamation laws would be unproblematic if you could contract out of them. On Ayres' scheme, you could be free of defamation liability if you ran a disclaimer saying, "This paper/blog/etc. has opted out of defamation liability. Readers beware." In that counter-factual regime, Singh would have no complaint if he or his publisher didn't run the disclaimer, and he'd have to take the reputational hit if he did.