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Law:
Slander & Libel... Online |
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Based on
article
from
freelanceuk.com
If a reader takes issue with content you have uploaded to your website,
the first you are likely to hear of it is via a letter or e-mail
requesting that the content be amended or deleted. Theoretically,
bloggers must comply with laws all over the world, but the land where
your content is consumed is the most important. Putting a ‘terms of use’
notice spelling out if you read this blog you agree to be bound by
the law of… (your home country) can help.
For bloggers, who often populate their web-pages with links, a likely
legal challenge stems from the popular process of ‘making available.’
Under copyright law, bloggers can face action for simply linking to a
site that infringes someone else’s copyright.
Online and Retail Based on
article
from
out-law.com
30th August
2008
A Bit of Lip...
Sex toys to add a little devilish fun
hot lil devil
A Bloggers guide to libel and slander
Permalink
Freedom
of expression in the UK is not enshrined in law, so bloggers do not have
the legal right to say whatever they like.
Under UK law, bloggers do not have the right to remain anonymous and are
treated the same as professional journalists or publishers. As a result,
bloggers must take care with anything they write about a person or
company in an accusatory way.
To defame someone means: To lower the estimation of a person in the
eyes of right thinking members of society generally. Even if the words
damage a person in the eyes of a section of society or the community,
they are not defamatory unless they amount to a disparagement of the
reputation in the eyes of right-thinking people generally.
Alongside defamation, the other areas of liability for bloggers are
breach of copyright, trade mark infringement, disclosure of confidential
details, and types of expression (which are criminalised, like inciting
racist violence).
The other main areas of potential liability if you upload content to
your own website are:
Using a company logo in a blog post can cause problems, even if
permission has been granted by the company, or the logo was taken from
an ‘Images available for use’ section. Typically, trouble ensues if the
company dislikes the content their logo is posted with, and may lead to
accusations of dilution of their brand, or unlawful usage of a
trademark.
Republishing a libel is the same as publishing it in the UK, unlike in
the US. However if you are publishing content penned by another author,
give due acknowledgement, and clearly label your content separately to
other people’s.
29th August
2008
Inviting Comment...
Sex Shops
NiceNNaughty
Relating types of internet forums to libel and slander
Permalink
Media
sites which ask readers to comment on news stories are at greater risk
of bearing responsibility for those comments than for comments in online
forums or discussion groups, leading web moderators have warned.
It is generally believed that a web publisher who does not pre-screen
user comments is not liable for libellous or otherwise unlawful comments
because they had no editorial involvement in them.
Sites which pre-screen all comments are generally deemed to share
responsibility with the poster because they have chosen to publish any
comments that appear.
But one moderating veteran has said that when unscreened comments appear
under news stories the publishers of the site could be liable for them.
Many lawyers I've spoken to now view the invitation of content – so
if you have a comments section at the end of an article on a newspaper
site – they view that as inviting comment and therefore you are
responsible for it and therefore you probably want to consider
pre-moderating all the content that goes there, said Danny Dagan, a
moderation consultant who has helped establish online communities for
The Sun newspaper.
Dominic Sparkes is operations director at Tempero, a moderation firm
said that a recent judgment in the UK by Mr Justice Eady might change
that. The ruling said that comments on bulletin boards and online
discussion groups are more like slander than libel because they are more
informal.
Mr Justice Eady had written in that ruling: [Bulletin board posts]
are rather like contributions to a casual conversation (the analogy
sometimes being drawn with people chatting in a bar) which people simply
note before moving on; they are often uninhibited, casual and ill
thought out. Those who participate know this and expect a certain amount
of repartee or 'give and take'.
When considered in the context of defamation law, therefore,
communications of this kind are much more akin to slanders (this cause
of action being nowadays relatively rare) than to the usual, more
permanent kind of communications found in libel actions.
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