Internet publishers not liable for third party web postings in US

Stan Beer
Wednesday, 22 November 2006 02:14

Your IT - Home IT

A US court has ruled that the publishers of web sites cannot be sued for defammatory comments posted by third parties on their sites. Citing online freedom of expression and ecouragement of self regulation, the California Supreme Court made it clear that those who feel they have been defamed on the net can only go after the original source.

The ruling has benign consequences for the millions of websites who enable visitors to post their own comments and blogs to the web using the sites' tools.

The California Supreme Court ruling, which overturned an earlier ruling by a lower court, centered on a case made by two doctors against a woman, an alternative medicine supporter, who they alleged posted defamatory material about them.

However, the court did in its comments refer to existing legislation, implying that it needs to be revised.