A California Supreme Court decision regarding a blogger’s possible defamation liability has ended up serving the First Amendment very well. The court ruled that bloggers and Internet bulletin board groups cannot be sued for defamatory statements made by others due to protections granted under the 1996 Telecom Act.
The background: newsgroup operator Ilena Rosenthal posted a letter written by a man who was critical of a doctor Terry Polevoy. Polevoy sued Rosenthal for libel and a California Court of Appeals ultimately upheld Polevoy’s right to sue Rosenthal, despite the fact that Section 230 of the 96 Act protects Internet publishers from being held liable for harmful comments written by others.
The California Supreme Court turned that decision around, saying that the law is clear, albeit with troubling consequences, and ruled in favor of Rosenthal. EFF and the ACLU participated in this much-watched decision, arguing, among other things, that holding Internet content providers liable for the actions of others could end up chilling speech. “In adopting Section 230, Congress was concerned about the chilling effect that the possibility of tort liability for others’ speech would have on ICS [interactive communications service] providers,” EFF and ACLU wrote in their amicus brief.
The appeals court agreed with Rosenthal that she’s not liable for the alleged defamatory statements regarding Polevoy, but seemed a reluctant defender of how federal law exempts the communications service providers from tort liability.
We acknowledge that recognizing broad immunity for defamatory re-publications on the Internet has some troubling consequences. Until Congress chooses to revise the settled law in this area, however, plaintiffs who contend they were defamed in an Internet posting may only seek recovery from the original source of the statement.
Nonetheless, it’s still a victory for free speech and for now, anyway, a whole lot of bloggers and aggregators and bulletin board owners can breathe a lot easier.
Cynthia Brumfield at 3:17 PM|Comments(1)
The irony is that what Rosenthal re-published about internet liar, fraudster and stalker, Dr. CrazyTerry Polevoy was factual.
Hard to imagine CrazyTerry challenging the truth in a court of law.
Posted by: anonymous at November 27, 2006 1:17 PM
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