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  • 25-04-2008 12:19pm
    #1
    TerrorFirmer
    Closed Accounts Posts: 29,930 ✭✭✭✭


    http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055280519

    That thread got me thinking. I know that's a fake story, but out of curiosity, can you be arrested over activity online of a purely harassing nature? Abuse, Slander against an individual, abuse based on ethnicity/race etc? I was looking at Youtube yesterday and every second comment seems to be outright racial abuse of the worst kind by members that have been active for years. Was shocked at the lack of moderation.....is the internet a free for all regarding that kind of thing?


Comments

  • #2
    Duffman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,248 ✭✭✭Duffman


    TerrorFirmer wrote: »
    Was shocked at the lack of moderation.....is the internet a free for all regarding that kind of thing?

    Sometimes the lack of moderation is a deliberate strategy to keep sites out of legal trouble. This is because sites that feature user-generated content can hide behind the rules that protect ISPs (say the E-Commerce Directive in the EU and the DMCA is the US) if they don't generally moderate or control what's posted.

    Essentially this means that they can't be held liable for anything libelous, racist, copyright infringing or whatever else that's posted because they can claim to be mere hosts rather than content providers. The interests of people who might object to this kind of material are protected by an obligation on hosts to take it down once it's brought to their attention. They'll be in trouble if they don't do this fairly quickly.

    The line between mere host and content provider is a pretty fine one. Once an administrator starts moderating and supervising content they can "adopt" it all and the resulting liability for posting it in the first place.

    It's kind of counterintuitive I suppose. Take boards as an example; the very fact that the site has a team of active mods charged with preventing abuse of the service is what opens it up to potential liability for anything posted anywhere on the site. Boards can be sued and the identity of the poster is irrelevant.

    On the other hand, Rapidshare would be a good example of a service that relies on the type of defence I described. It claims not to know about what the files users post contain, but it will take something down pretty quickly if someone makes a complaint.

    The moral of the story is that you might need to be careful about what people say on your internets.


  • #3
    hada
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 699 ✭✭✭hada


    just from memory, there has been a case where a person was convicted for making defamatory remarks about another person (calling her a prostitute or something to that effect) on a message board in the UK. Also, someone has also tried to sue Demon Internet ISP for a situation like what was described by the op, but failed. The case turned on the fact of lack of knowlege on behalf of the ISP. So to answer the orginal question, it really depends on the facts of the case as it arises!


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