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Bloggers Immune From Suits Against Commenters

Posted by kdawson on from the common-carrier dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Suppose a commenter posts a libelous comment here at Slashdot. Can Slashdot and its owners be sued for defamation? A federal appeals court just held that no, they cannot. The court noted that a federal law was designed to ensure that 'within broad limits, message board operators would not be held responsible for the postings made by others on that board,' adding that, were the law otherwise, it would have an 'obvious chilling effect' on blogger speech."

6 of 142 comments (clear)

  1. Let's test it out.... by Mikachu · · Score: 4, Funny

    Microsoft sells your soul to satan!

    *runs*

    1. Re:Let's test it out.... by gQuigs · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It said message board operators are not liable. They could still sue individual users on the site.

    2. Re:Let's test it out.... by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 5, Funny

      They can't sue GP. It's got to be FALSE information.

    3. Re:Let's test it out.... by Citizen+of+Earth · · Score: 4, Funny

      They ALL deserve two in the back of the head.

      Sounds risky. Better to unload the whole clip.

  2. sue the makers of Pens by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I once wrote a slanderous piece about someone and they, knowing that I had no money, determined that the brand of pen that I wrote the document with (pre-computer) was Bic, then filed a lawsuit agains Bic corporation for supplying me with the tool I used for my slanderous remarks.

    Note: The above did not really happen. It just served to make a (ball) point.

  3. Re:will they then by ivanmarsh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I guess that depends on whether you're stating opinion or fact. Everyone is entitled to their opinion no matter how stupid it is.

    None of these cases will ever go anywhere.

    "I never made any claim that my blogg is a lagitimate source of factual material" case dismissed.
    If it works for Fox news it should certainly work for a blog.