Federal Court Reaffirms Immunity of Bloggers from Suits Brought Against Commenters
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act provides 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," and that "[n]o cause of action may be brought and no liability may be imposed under any State or local law that is inconsistent with this section." A recent decision of the First Circuit has reaffirmed the broad protection this statute provides to bloggers and message board administrators.
In Universal Communication Systems v. Lycos, a company who had allegedly been victimized by defamatory statements on a message board regarding the value of its stock sued Lycos, which operated the board. The message board allowed users to post comments with minimal moderation, and no one from Lycos was responsible for the allegedly defamatory statements.
Examining the impact of Sec. 230 on this case, the court noted that "Congress intended that, within broad limits, message board operators would not be held responsible for the postings made by others on that board," adding that allowing bloggers and message board operators to be sued for the statements of commenters on their sites would have an "obvious chilling effect" on speech. Accordingly, the court dismissed the complaint against Lycos.
(hat tip: Bashman)
Written By:Vidaddy On February 27, 2007 11:19 AM Written By:techie On March 20, 2007 3:26 AM
And we shall see if Scott Wellman will help Damon scammer Westmoreland force the San Diego District Court to reverse these California Court decisions on his mission to sues all of the naysayers who have proved for the past two years that his greenzap.com will never be the next paypal, rather the stinky smell of a scam based on lies and webcashcrap.
Meanwhile, ridiculous suits keep getting filed.
Eric Pepin - Higher Balance Institute Sue SOTT for 4.47 Million Over SOTT Forum Comments!
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/150512-Eric-Pepin-Higher-Balance-Institute-
Sue-SOTT-for-4-47-Million-Over-SOTT-Forum-Comments-
Wondering if the same laws that protect against liable will shield against liability. The case in point was on the Yahoo AirstreamList where a member suggested a pulling vehicle that may be too small for his trailer. The list moderator threatened to ban the member because such speech might encourage others to imitate and cause liability for the list and / or Airstream trailers.
Anybody care to comment on the liability issue?