XENOPHONZ opened this issue on Mar 07, 2006 ยท 42 posts
XENOPHONZ posted Tue, 07 March 2006 at 12:30 PM
I can understand the legal reasoning in that UK case. After a request was made to the provider to remove a specifically libelous posting -- yes, I can understand that.
Years ago, I saw a post on Usenet from a vengeful woman -- she had posted a bunch of explicit sex pictures of another woman whom she accused of having an affair with her boyfriend. She named the other woman & gave her hometown -- along with an invitation to all viewers to call up the other woman & join in the fun. IIRC, the pictures were posted under some innocuous title or other -- and were spammed across numerous newsgroups.
In such a case, I'd say that you'd have a solid libel suit -- at the very least. But I wouldn't blame the providers. I'd blame the enraged woman who made the posts.
But if a specific request was made to remove the posts? That might be a different story.....but once something goes out onto Usenet, it goes out all over the world. It's the proverbial case of closing the barn door long after the horses have already fled.
The UK legal system has one HUGE advantage over our crazy system here in the US. The UK has 'loser pays' in civil actions. If someone brings a lawsuit, and then loses the suit -- they are forced to pay ALL of the legal fees & court costs: including the costs of the other party.
A loser-pays system over here would go a L-O-N-G way towards fixing the current insanity of our totally out-of-control legal system. Most people would think twice before filing a frivolous lawsuit under loser-pays.
But of course: the trial lawyers over here would fight any such idea with every weapon that they could bring to bear.