RE: libelous comments

From: Bruce Robinson (bruce.rob@btinternet.com)
Date: Tue Apr 04 2000 - 10:57:27 PDT


I've attached an article from the Guardian on this. Hope the formatting is OK.

Bruce
                                          Net firm pays out for
                                          alleged libel

                                          More about privacy on the net

                                          Will Woodward
                                          Friday March 31, 2000

                                          A libel case with profound legal
                                          implications for the internet was settled
                                          yesterday less than a week before it was
                                          due to go to court.

                                          Demon Internet agreed to pay ?15,000
                                          damages and an estimated ?230,000 in
                                          costs to Laurence Godfrey, a physicist
                                          who said he had been defamed by two
                                          anonymous postings on the net. Demon
                                          will have to pay its own costs, a similar
                                          sum.

                                          The case appears to establish in UK law
                                          that internet service providers are subject
                                          to the same libel laws as newspapers and
                                          other media. Some lawyers argued that
                                          the settlement amounted to unacceptable
                                          censorship of the internet, though this
                                          was disputed by others. It could herald a
                                          run of libel actions in Britain, where the
                                          libel laws are much tighter than in the US,
                                          over allegedly defamatory statements on
                                          the net.

                                          The case, which had been due to start in
                                          the high court on Monday, would have
                                          been the first significant libel trial involving
                                          the internet in the UK. But yesterday, in
                                          front of Mr Justice Eady, the company
                                          apologised for failing to remove the
                                          postings when Dr Godfrey protested.

                                          Demon, now owned by Thus plc, later
                                          said it that would press the government for
                                          recognition that ISPs "should not be liable
                                          for the millions of items carried on the
                                          internet every day".

                                          The first posting, described by Gordon
                                          Bishop, Dr Godfrey's counsel, as "squalid,
                                          obscene and defamatory", appeared on
                                          January 12 1997 on the soc.culture.thai
                                          newsgroup, which is carried by Demon. It
                                          was a forgery purporting to be from Dr
                                          Godfrey.

                                          Despite several faxes from Dr Godfrey, the
                                          item remained on the newsgroup until
                                          January 27, and he initiated legal
                                          proceedings.

                                          In July 1998, a second posting, originating
                                          from one of Demon's own customers
                                          under the pseudonym "Iniquity", appeared
                                          in the uk.legal newsgroup and made
                                          further defamatory and personal
                                          allegations about Dr Godfrey, the judge
                                          was told. Dr Godfrey again requested their
                                          removal and again his request was not
                                          complied with.

                                          Dr Godfrey received ?5,000 for the first
                                          libel and ?10,000 for the second, which he
                                          said had a much wider readership in
                                          Britain.

                                          Mr Bishop said Demon had never sought
                                          to suggest there was any truth in either
                                          libel and contended it was not responsible
                                          or liable for either.

                                          Thus plc said it had improved its
                                          procedures for handling complaints about
                                          material posted on the internet.

                                          Mark Stephens, a media lawyer, said: "In
                                          America, ISPs have immunity over the
                                          content they provide access to and that
                                          must be the situation here. Otherwise,
                                          you are going to have a legal free-for-all
                                          with libel writs flying left, right and centre."

                                          Dr Godfrey said the main issue was not
                                          freedom of speech but the power of the
                                          internet to destroy someone's reputation.
                                          "If Demon had taken the simple steps that
                                          I had asked of them at the outset, this
                                          monumental waste of money could be
                                          avoided," he said.

                                          . Useful sites
                                     



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