Liability to the service providers seems to be catching on. SI better take notice.
sjmercury.com
Posted at 10:36 a.m. PST Friday, March 26, 1999
UK Internet group to
appeal landmark libel
ruling
LONDON (Reuters) - Demon Internet, Britain's
largest dial-up Internet Service Provider (ISP), Friday
said it would appeal a landmark High Court ruling
that held it responsible for material carried on its
computers.
Demon, part of Scottish Telecom, is one of the first
British-based ISPs to be sued for defamation over content posted on the
Internet.
The group said the pre-trial decision raised questions about free speech and
censorship and could trigger a flood of complaints about messages in
cyberspace.
''The ruling suggests that Internet Service Providers should be held liable for
the information that they transmit between one party and another,'' said David
Furniss, director of Scottish Telecom's Internet Services.
''This potentially opens up the Internet industry at large to millions of similar
unjustified complaints.''
Laurence Godfrey, a university lecturer, alleged that defamatory remarks were
made about him in a posting on a newsgroup, that he notified Demon but that
nothing was done.
But Furniss said if comparable comments had been made to Godfrey in a
restaurant, he would not be suing the restaurant owner for defamation. ''The
only difference in this instance is the lack of clarity in the law and lack of
understanding of the parameters of the Internet,'' he said.
The extent to which ISPs can be held liable for defamatory messages posted
on their electronic bulletin is a thorny issue.
An Internet newsgroup is essentially a virtual ''chat'' forum in cyberspace and
Furniss said it would be impossible to expect an ISP to vet every article
complained about. To complicate matters, the contentious posting was made
by an unknown person in the U.S. who was not a Demon Internet customer.
In Britain, a defense of ''innocent dissemination'' is available to bookshops,
printers and others unaware their wares are defamatory. But Godfrey argues
this is not available where a provider is warned a message is libelous.
Millions of individual postings on the Internet are made each day and lawyers
are interested to see whether damages will be awarded -- and at what level --
which will determine whether ISPs are inundated by a flood of claims or not.
Godfrey was at the center of Britain's first Internet-based libel case, which was
settled out of court. He has also fought successful legal actions in New
Zealand and Australia. |
