[LINK] Re: Internet Defamation Exposure Trimmed?

[Roger Clarke]

For once I got no takers on this one.

This is a useful take on it:

Internet users cannot be sued for reposting defamatory statements
11/21/2006 10:35:45 AM, by Nate Anderson
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20061121-8260.html

The California Supreme Court ruled yesterday that individual Internet 
users are generally protected from libel actions when they repost 
material written by others, even if notified that such material may 
be libelous. While the ruling gives bloggers and Web journalists more 
freedom to act, it also led the court to worry about the "disturbing 
implications" of granting such broad immunity.

The ruling is based on a reading of section 230 of the Communication 
Decency Act, which states that "no provider or user of an interactive 
computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any 
information provided by another information content provider." This 
is important because only those who author and publish defamatory 
statements can be held liable for them; distributors cannot. If a 
newsstand sells a periodical ...



Date: Wed, 22 Nov 2006 09:23:53 +1100
>[Maybe someone can explain the ramifications of this judgement in 
>simple terms.  The article is in the SMH today, but the following is 
>the original report in the LA Times, which is a  quality newspaper. 
>It doesn't help that the complete cast in the case appears to be 
>whacky.  Oops, that might be defamatory;  or maybe not ...]


STEPHEN J. BARRETT et al. v. ILENA ROSENTHAL
Supreme Court of California, Alameda County , Super. Ct. No. 833021-5 
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions/documents/S122953.PDF


Ruling limits Internet liability
Los Angeles Times
By Maura Dolan, Times Staff Writer
November 21, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-internet21nov21,0,6189196.story

...

-- 
Roger Clarke                  http://www.anu.edu.au/people/Roger.Clarke/
			            
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Visiting Professor in Info Science & Eng  Australian National University
Visiting Professor in the eCommerce Program      University of Hong Kong
Visiting Professor in the Cyberspace Law & Policy Centre      Uni of NSW