Refret job in galway, Some guy ruined my guitar.

Welease

eoin5 wrote: »

The stuff that gets said over on the politics board about stuff that isnt proven yet is pretty heavy-handed. I guess its our national passtime so allowances can be made

hehe yeah.. but those people can leave themselves open if someone decided to act on their comments.

There have been lots of cases in recent times (not sure how many in Ireland) where bloggers have felt the wrath of the law for comments made. It used to just be the established media who had access to the masses (TV, Radio, Print etc.) and they would be somewhat trained to avoid costly mistakes, but in recent times the internet has allowed everyone to make comments that are available globally in seconds.. A lot more people are making comments and it would appear, a lot more are taking offense through legal channels.

(and I should post, none of the above or previous posts should be considered legal advice! )

Just found this article, which give some insight into the problems associated with hosting forums..

"Many plaintiffs will sue not the person who wrote the defamatory material but the internet business which displayed it. This may be because they cannot identify the author or because the author doesn’t have a bob. Either way, it presents a problem for online businesses in Ireland, which face the risk of substantial damages for what users say, even though they are not responsible for what is said. Some providers, such as chatrooms and forums, do have limited protection under European law, giving them immunity from damages — provided they act quickly to remove defamatory material when they become aware of it.
But there is no guidance as to what is meant by being “aware” of defamatory material. This lack of certainty discourages internet providers from taking responsible steps to monitor user comments for fear that, if they do, they will be deemed to be aware of the content and therefore liable. It also creates a problem when someone makes a vague complaint and doesn’t specify what is defamatory. The only solution may be to remove all material referring to them.
The result of this limited immunity is often privatised censorship, with internet hosts feeling obliged to remove users’ comments in response to legal threats. Simple economics encourage this. The cost of legal advice to determine whether material is defamatory, and the risk of liability, means that the safest response is taking down content or closing off debates. Boards.ie felt compelled to ban all discussion of MCD events after the concert promoter took a libel action over users’ posts about the Oxegen festival."


http://www.digitalrights.ie/2010/02/28/irish-defamation-law-still-inadequate-for-internet/




But this is getting, waaaay of topic now So I'll stop.