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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."

3 of 142 comments (clear)

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

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