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Media law & ethics for online publishers, collected and written by Judith Townend (@jtownend). Please note that this site is no longer regularly updated.
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Hi
I’ve come across the link below a few times on your site, but unfortunately it’s broken.
Help Me Investigate group
‘What are the legal risks for online publishers and bloggers in the UK?’ I formed this group on the Help Me Investigate site to track my progress with the project and to provide a space to continue the discussion, once it is over. The Help Me Investigate site is currently in beta, but anyone can request an invitation to join.
The topic sounds like it is just the info I’m looking for as regards the legalities of a web project that I’m seriously considering. More exactly, my question is ‘Can site owners/hosters be held accountable (for defamation/libel) for content that is 100% untouched by them: for example if a member of the public posts text that is clearly legally defamatory, but the site owners have simply provided the facilities for that post to be online?’
Any help or pointers would be much appreciated – your site’s excellent!
Hi Kenny,
Thank you for your interest and apologies for not replying until now. The group is currently on hold as the Help Me Investigate service is in a period of transition. A new website is currently being built and I’ll let you know when it re-launches. If you’re on LinkedIn you can join a group here: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3482634
Your question is an interesting one and I will follow it up. Intermediary liability is a complex area and varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. I am planning a series of ‘media law surgery’ posts later this summer in which I will attempt to address questions from users, by consulting internet specialist lawyers. Yours will be one of the first queries I feature!
Judith Townend