 |
 |
The Times was slightly more explicit in its Law Reports for 20/04/1999: http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/tim/99/04/20/timlawqbd01002.html?999 Miles On Mon, 28 Jun 1999 14:05:19 +0100 (BST) K Fearon <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Noticed this in 'Commercial Law Briefing' and thought it may be of > interest, as I hadn't heard anything about it: > > 'In the first English ruling on Internet libel, the High Court has held an > Internet service provider liable for libellous material which it carried > on its systems. In 'Laurence Godfrey v Demon Internet Ltd, 29 March 1999' > a university lecturer claimed that defamatory remarks were held on an > Internet newsgroup run by Demon and that Demon did not remove the > information upon request. The Court held that Demon could not rely on the > defence at common law that it had not published the defamatory statement > nor on a defence available under the Defamation Act 1996 because, whilst > it was not the author, editor or publisher of the statement, it had not > taken reasonable care in relation to the publication when it was notified > of its defamatory nature. Demon has been granted leave to appeal the > decision.' > > It didn't say exactly what action Demon had taken so it's hard to judge > whether how far this could apply to an institution - but they do have an > AUP and guidelines for use like any reputable organisation. > > Comments? > > Kriss > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Web Coordinator Stables S011 Tel: (01904) 434682 Fax: 433538 > University of York, UK 9-5.15, Mon-Fri http://www.york.ac.uk/coord/ > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Miles E.C. Banbery, University Web Editor Communications & Development Office and Education Support Services G1, The Registry, The University, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NF. Tel. 01227 827767, Fax. 01227 764464 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%