Demon Internet sued

[wideboy]

Had an email from friend cloudwalker. He'd like us all to read the following link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci...000/695596.stm

P.S. Seems the skipper has banned him from these pages. Disgraceful!!!

[This message has been edited by wideboy (edited 30 March 2000).]

[gaunty]

Mate
mail me lost your email address in a crash.
cheers gaunty

[JP Justice]

Demon Internet have settled the libel action against them by Laurence Godfrey for around a quarter-million pounds including costs (which were, inevitably, most of it).
This is a worrying development which could affect PPRuNe.
There is no logical reason why a libel on the Net should be any different in principle from a libel in a newspaper or on TV or wherever, but ISPs and BB administrators do not often have any control over what is posted.
PPRuNe moderators may have to be quick on the draw in quarantining anything which appears to be defamatory. Demon is rich enough to stand a £250,000 hit, but I am not so sure about Danny and his cohorts!
Perhaps it will soon be time to take PPRuNe offshore.

[This message has been edited by JP Justice (edited 30 March 2000).]

[wideboy]

Originally posted by JP Justice:
....
There is no logical reason why a libel on the Net should be any different in principle from a libel in a newspaper or on TV or wherever, but ISPs and BB administrators do not often have any control over what is posted. ...

Come off it JP. They do have control. They can remove edit delete, whatever. They can also set records straight where appropriate. Why should the internet be treated any differently to any other publication medium?

[JP Justice]

The problem with Wideboy's point, which is generally a fair one, is that a monster libel can be posted, and be off into cyberspace by being reposted before the moderators can get their hands on it. A newspaper has to push the button to start the presses, a TV company has to roll the tapes, but BBs like this one receive their content passively, and unless all posts are quarantined before being moderated there could be a problem.
Perhaps I am being over-cautious, but I don't think so.

[Biggles Flies Undone]

JP Justice. The more of your posts I read, the more I'm inclined to believe.

The internet is still in its infancy and I have a bad feeling that this is the future.

How sad. How very sad

[wideboy]

JP, good point except that radio live broadcasting falls into the same category. The problem is overcome there by delaying the broadcast for a few seconds, presumably while someone has the power to edit. A similar system can, and perhaps should, be introduced for internet sites.