Court rules Web site not liable for attacks in anonymous forum.

[Kire]

Court rules Web site not liable for attacks in anonymous forum
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG
Star-Ledger Staff

In a decision that upholds "unfettered speech on the Internet," a state appeals court ruled yesterday that the operator of a Web site cannot be sued for "vile and derogatory" comments posted anonymously by others.

The appeals court upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by two former members of the Emerson Borough Council in Bergen County against Stephen Moldow, creator of the now-defunct Web site Eye on Emerson.

It featured, among other things, a discussion forum and chat room where anyone could anonymously post messages. Some of the messages amounted to nothing more than "unpleasant name-calling," while others were serious enough that a newspaper publishing them could be sued, the court said.

"In the context of cyberspace, however, Congress has chosen a different course," Appellate Division Judge Joseph Lisa wrote. He concluded that Moldow was protected by the "broad immunity" Congress granted to Web site operators in 1996 in an effort "to maintain the robust nature of Internet communications."

More: http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-20/110724097176370.xml?starledger?ntop

[FormerDittoHead]

1. Part Victory...

Seeing that the process made the webmaster take the website down, I don't know how much of a victory it is when one with deep pockets can get little guys to give up their freedom of speech, regardless of the law.

Given this precedence, I will assume that future attempts will be less successful.

It IS good, however, to have this ruling, to help the cause of freedom of speech, especially when it's exercised against government and corporations.

I also thought it interesting how, in this day of, "you can't hide anything on your computer" the IP info of the posters couldn't be recovered....