Mark Roedel writes:
> On Mon, 1 Mar 1999, Javilk wrote:
> > I wonder if any one knows what avenues a web operator such as myself has
> > regarding these problems, what kind of response to the e-mail we
> > received, etc. might be reasonable.
>
> Ultimately (and I, of course, am not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV),
Me neither, caeat lictor or emptor or whatever.
> the question appears to be whether the information is true or not. If I
There are two issues; libel and common carrier status. Truth is
a defense against libel. However, whether the host can be sued as
well as the account owner is another question, which boils down to
whether the host machine is treated as a "common carrier" or not. For
example, if I make an obscene phone call to you, the phone company
isn't responsible because it's a common carrier. I don't know what
the current status of this question is, though. That's where you
need to talk to competent legal counsel.
> were in your shoes, I think I'd get together with my legal counsel and
> (unless, of course, they advise differently) draft a response letter,
> indicating that I was willing to comply with whatever the court rules in
> their suit against the author of that document, but that you don't intend
> to pull the document otherwise unless they provide some pretty conclusive
> evidence to contradict it. (As a concession, perhaps you might offer to
> host their response to the content in question...)
Writing a courteous response seems like a good idea. Certainly,
ignoring it is probably dangerous. But is it wise to offer to remove
or to host counter opinions? Offering to host counter opinions for
free would seem to cast you into the role of a publisher. OFfer to
host their page for your standard hosting rate :-). Offering to
remove casts you into the role of the court - then the poster who is
responsible can sue you!
Maybe the best bet is to politely suggest that they take it up
with the account owner and that unless that they get an injunction
from a legal court, you would be unable to remove the page.
We need some nice, messy, noisy supreme court cases to establish
some clear and very public precedents on this sort of thing.
Steven J. Owens
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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