Of interest -
It was revealed in April 2010 that Service was the victim of negative reviews posted semi-anonymously by historian Orlando Figes on the Amazon website.[1] Service said about the experience, including being threatened with a libel action by Figes' lawyer before Figes' own eventual admission of responsibility, "I have a distaste for scholars who reach for the instrument of law but the damage done to me has been acute. I am just reserving my position and I am expecting there to be consequences. I don't want to go down into the cess-pit with him. I was terrified last week. I have been a gibbering wreck." [2] Service told The Independent that he wanted to contribute to libel law reform. [3] However, he used the libel laws against Figes for the next three months.[4]