Bubble bloggers can pull out the stops and tell the *#%+@& REIC what they think- according to the California Supreme Court, blogs cannot be held liable for comments made by third party posters. (Although here on Doom we like the comments to be family friendly.)
From Brietbart.com:
SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) - Websites that publish inflammatory information written by other parties cannot be sued for libel, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The ruling in favour of free online expression was a victory for a San Diego woman who was sued by two doctors for posting an allegedly libelous e-mail on two websites.
Some of the Internet’s biggest names, including Amazon.com, America Online Inc., EBay Inc., Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc., took the defendant’s side out of concern a ruling against her would expose them to liability.
In reversing an appellate court’s decision, the state Supreme Court ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 provides broad immunity from defamation lawsuits for people who publish information on the Internet that was gathered from another source.
So go ahead- post away. John and I can sleep nights knowing the REIC can’t sue. Let’m have it. We’ll keep it honest - too bad the REIC won’t.
So go ahead- post away. John and I can sleep nights knowing the REIC can’t sue. Let’m have it.
Careful! You can still be sued.
As the article states: “people who claim they were defamed in an Internet posting can seek damages from the original source of the statement.”
If you write something defamatory and you’re not merely repeating something like a snippet of a news article from the AZ Republic, you are potential defendant.
NVMike -
Point taken. I’ve often noticed that journalism is a bit like bicycle racing. Once one source breaks a story, a great pack of other sources will immediately follow, drafting as it were.
NVMike-
Probably should have added, “She said fasciciously.” We live in a society where we can sue for nearly anything. With luck they won’t prevail when it’s determined it’s not justified- but life and our court system offer no guarantees.