Europe, Free Speech, And The Internet

drdale writes "Declan McCullagh responds at CNET.com to a proposal by the Council of Europe to require Internet sites to publish replies by individuals whom the sites criticize. This would apply to all web sites, apparently, including blogs. Per McCullagh, the Council's proposals do not have the force of law, but often serve as the basis for new laws." Imagine the chilling effect if McCullagh's own politechbot and similar sites had to follow such rules.

Comments

Re:Why chilling?

[davecb]

And the right of reply is something that makes it safe to make critical comments in email or news. Because the person/organization can reply, they can't go to a court and say "they slandered me and won't let me defend myself, so make them give me money".

Of course, that's mostly useful in non-litigatious countries (;-))

--dave