Australian Court OKs International Net-Defamation Suit

Proud to be unAustralian writes: "Australian IT reports that a landmark court ruling puts Internet publishers around the world on notice that they can be sued under Australia's strict defamation laws -- and effectively in any of the 190 nations where defamation proceedings can be brought." entrippy contributes a link to another article on the case running at The Age.

Reader Diabolus notes that "it is unlikely that this same success would have occurred under American law. This occurred despite the site being hosted in America. It seems that RMS' nightmare 'Harm from the Hague' has come to pass even before that treaty is signed."

Comments

Great.

[spankfish]

I can see it now. The Taliban will come out suing millions of AOL users for showing their faces in public.

Oh No!

[mESSDan]

Now I have to think back to all of the flaming I've done in my internet history and start sending out "Just Kidding!" emails! Sheesh!

On a serious side note, maybe I and the judge who ruled in favor of this should stop eating all that paint.

Slashdot will be sued next

[analog_line]

You think Aussies don't read this? You think word of this discussion won't reach some hungry lawyer in Australian looking to get a high-profile case under his belt? I fully expect someone at Slashdot getting a summons to appear in court in Australia.

I expect the eventual outcome of this will be a national Australian firewall, where if you don't kowtow to hte Australian court, the entire nation is blocked from accessing your site.

A Closet Full of Suits?

[Sir Tristam]

This article leaves open one interesting point. Say that Barrons printed an article that mentioned me in an unfavorable manner. Although I live in the US, and Dow Jones is based in the US, could I sue them under Australian defamation laws in Australian court? After all, the article can be retrieved in Australia. Heck with just that; I should file suit in every country that has an internet connection.

There definately needs to be some international agreements working out this sort of thing.

Chris Beckenbach

The above post is wholely created and housed in the United States of America (USA). By exporting the above post outside the borders of the USA the exporter agrees to indemnify and hold harmless the author from any suits arising from act of exporting or the contents of the above post, and further agrees to vigorously defend the author from and assume all liability under all suits of law that arise outside the USA from the act of exporting or the contents of the above post.