The California Supreme Court has ruled that bloggers and Internet providers in US are not liable for posting defamatory comments posted by third parties. This follows the case regarding a San Diego woman who was sued for posting libelous comments on her site by commenters about two doctors.
Big names in the industry like Google, Amazon and eBay had a significant stake in the outcome of the ruling for if it went against the woman, they could have been dragged into lawsuits. Hence, they have supported the woman in this case.
The judges overruled a decision by the San Francisco appeal court and ruled that it was well within her rights that entitles her to freedom of expression. It said that the people claiming to be defamed online could seek damages from the original author of the comments that the site reposted and not the site itself.
The California SC ruled that ISPs were protected by US Federal laws and said that chat rooms or news groups providers are not considered as the publishers of third party submissions.
This ruling must have brought a sigh of relief to the Internet companies like Google for there are countless numbers of hate blogs, and other hate content published in the various forums they provide to users.
News: BBCNews.com
