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Wikipedia Wins Defamation Case

Posted by Zonk on from the wiki-this dept.

Raul654 writes "Yesterday, a French judge dismissed a lawsuit against the Wikimedia Foundation for defamation. The judge found that 'Web site hosts cannot be liable under civil law because of information stored on them if they do not in fact know of their illicit nature.' According to the inquirer: 'Three plaintiffs were each seeking 69,000 euros ($100,000) in damages for invasion of their privacy after their homosexuality was revealed on the website.'"

2 of 153 comments (clear)

  1. I wonder how far this could be applied by Huntr · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Specifically, this part of the Reuters writeup:

    "Web site hosts cannot be liable under civil law because of information stored on them if they do not in fact know of their illicit nature," Binoche said in his written ruling released at the Paris civil law court earlier this week.

    Moreover, Web site hosts are not legally bound to monitor or investigate the origin of the information they store, he added.

    IANAL, but I wonder if this could have ramifications in the file-sharing world..

  2. When "defamation" include the truth? by PortHaven · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If it was posted they were homosexuals and they weren't, that'd be defamation. But it states their "homosexuality was revealed on wikipedia". Which leads me to believe they are in fact homosexual.

    So how does revealing the truth equate to defamation?