A number of people have asked me what the recent European Court judgment in the Google “right to be forgotten” case means; here’s why I have been answering that I don’t know! The case concerned a fifteen-year old article in a Spanish newspaper about a named individual who had got into financial difficulties. The individual, […]
Tag: Intermediaries
Posts about what Internet intermediaries can and can’t do; and how the law rarely gets that right…
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Defamation Act – detailed guidance
The Ministry of Justice have now published detailed instructions for website operators who want to use the new Defamation Act 2013 process to handle allegations that third-party postings are defamatory. The instructions set out clearly what information needs to be in each of the communications sent and received by the website operator, and they seem […]
The Government has recently announced that the Defamation Act 2013 will come into force in England and Wales on January 1st 2014. Section 5 of the Act addresses a couple of problems that have particularly affected Janet customers who operate websites. First, the concern that moderating postings from third parties might give rise to liability […]
The House of Commons has published a useful summary of progress on the Defamation Bill, which will return to Parliament next week. Clause 5 of the Bill proposes changes to the current regime for websites hosting allegedly defamatory postings from third parties. When it was last discussed in the House, before the summer, concerns were […]
Implementation of the new provisions for website operators under the Defamation Act 2013 has come a step closer, with the Ministry of Justice seeking comments on draft implementing Regulations. INFORRM has a summary of the process, with a helpful flowchart. Janet and UCISA have sent a joint response pointing out two frequent situations, and one […]
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Blocking “Internet locations”
I had a meeting with Ofcom this morning as part of their review of section 17 of the Digital Economy Act 2010. That section, if enabled by the Secretary of State, would allow courts to order a service provider “to prevent its service being used to gain access to [an Internet] location”. This power could […]
The passing of the Defamation Act 2013 this week removes a couple of areas of legal uncertainty if you run a website, blog, etc. and someone else posts an article or comment that may be defamatory. First, provided you aren’t acting maliciously, you don’t risk liability merely by moderating what is posted. Second, the Act […]
My talk at Networkshop looked at some of the changes going on in the law, especially in the measures that those who operate parts of the Internet are expected or required to take to help deal with unlawful activities on line. The law recognises a couple of general roles: Internet Access Providers who provide Internet […]
[Updated to add clause 6 on peer-reviewed scientific and academic journals] The House of Lords debate of clause 5 of the Defamation Bill this week suggested that the Bill might make it easier for universities and colleges to support vigorous debate through their websites. As Lord May (once the government’s chief scientific advisor) pointed out, […]
The Joint Committee on Human Rights has published its conclusions on the Defamation Bill. Among other changes the Bill intends to clarify the position of websites that accept posts from third parties and make it less likely that lawful posts will be removed because of fear of liability. The Committee are “glad to see steps […]