Internet Law Experts: Who Can I Sue for Online Defamation?
Because under English law legal action is possible against all intervening persons who are responsible for repeating, publishing or otherwise circulating the defamation, Internet Service Providers such as Virgin Media, AOL or BT run the risk of being regarded as the publishers of libellous remarks, originated by another person, but published by them in one of their hosted websites or forums.
A person who has been defamed online may choose whether to sue the original defamer, or the repeat publisher, or both. In reality many would rather sue the party with the deepest pockets, usually the Internet Service Provider, rather than the original author who might be penniless. Internet Service Provider’s liability appears to be almost unlimited because the courts have so far rejected claims them that a defence of ‘innocent dissemination’ should be available to them because they have no effective control over the material they re-distribute.
The Defamation Act 1996 attempted to provide Internet Service Providers in the UK with an opportunity to limit their liability. However, this law turned out to be very confusing and unclear which means that Internet Service Providers in England are still extremely vulnerable to be sued for defamation. Furthermore, because in cases of internet defamation there is normally a choice of jurisdictions available to the aggrieved party it is very possible for the defamed person to choose to take legal action in a jurisdiction other than the UK, where the defamation law is less favourable to the Internet Service Providers.
Yair Cohen
Internet Law Expert: What Is The Law On Defamation And How Can I Prove Defamation Of Character | Internet Law |
In response to the many requests by our friends and colleagues, I have now put together a short article explaining in simple language the law on defamation of character.
Basically, the purpose of the law surrounding defamation of character is to protect an individual’s reputation. As is the case with most areas of law, there is a delicate balance, which must be achieved between a person’s reputation on the one hand and another’s right to speak their mind.
For a defamation claim to succeed in England, three elements first need to be made out:
Read full article on Internet Lawyer’s website.
via Internet Law Expert: What Is The Law On Defamation And How Can I Prove Defamation Of Character | Internet Law |
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Online Defamation – Protecting Online Reputation
By Yair Cohen – Internet Law Expert
‘A good reputation is worth more than gold or silver’
Age old wisdom that still rings true today. Reputation is everything. And yet the spreading of a bad reputation will cost you gold and silver, and lots of it!
There’s no doubt about it, the internet has revolutionised the way businesses generate custom; widening marketing potential, broadening client resource bases and in a nutshell, spreading the (good) word! For this reason, keeping tabs on your business online reputation cannot be prioritised highly enough. This has to include having measures at your disposal to guard off any trace of negativity. Why? Because the success of your business depends on it!
No doubt, having effective strategies in place is the key. Such strategies that I recomend as an internet lawyer include preventative measures ensuring no defamation takes place, as well as quite literally setting all systems blazing the minute you get wind of any. Implementing reputation alarms, applying the pressure to the right people to remove the defamatory material, countering the negative material with good, and fighting for financial pay outs are all measures we are here to help you readily adopt to neutralise the damage caused, and build you up once again.
My Reputation Alarm is only one tool among many in your business arsenal. It helps to detect and alert but it must be accompanied by other measures which are ultimately aimed towards the goal of bringing you more business so that you can become more prosperous.
Click here for more free tips from internet lawyer, Yair Cohen on how to manage your online reputation.
Internet Lawyers: Bad News For Record Companies� Internet Law Legal Briefings.
The Irish High Court has ruled that the country’s laws forbid Internet service providers from suspending access to alleged file-swappers. The ruling was announced following a law suit by a local Internet Service Provider, UPC. The Irish Recorded Music Association previously sought a Court order to force UPC to hand over personal details of those the Association, which represents the major local record labels in Ireland, suspected of file….Read more�from Internet lawyers
You have to be careful with the way you are sending emails to bulk recipients. By sending it from your outlook you are running the risk that all your emails will be blacklisted, which I can tell you is a complete nightmare to experience and then fix.
Once you are suspected of sending bulk email, your email address will be blacklisted by one of a number of companies whose job is to locate ‘spammers’ and stop them from sending emails altogether. Once you get blacklisted by one company, others will follow suit.
You might then find that you are unable to send emails to any AOL, Hotmail, Google Mail, BT mail and many more. Any email sent will bounce back and will not be delivered to its intended recipient. Once blocked, it could take days to fix the problem. In the meantime, your customers will not be able to receive emails from you. A total nightmare.
If you find that your emails are bouncing back, you will need to get an IT expert to fix the problem and in some extreme cases use Internet Lawyers to take legal action. Whichever way you look at it, it is not going to be cheap. If you were to send useful information to your customers, always use a commercial programme such as Aweber (about £10 a month) or something similar where your bulk emails are being sent from an external server without any risk of your own domain being blacklisted. A programme such as Aweber will also allow recipients of your email to easily unsubscribe, making sure that your emails are only received by those who wish to receive them.
You can find here more free tips on Internet Law
Speak soon,
Yair Cohen
Internet Lawyer
How To Best Deal With Online Defamation
“Everyone needs to have a few blogs or ‘mini websites’ on the back burner. It is like having an army of loyal soldiers, all well trained and ready to fight the enemy upon demand. These mini websites can be activated with positive content about your company as soon as you feel that a reputation attack is imminent. By populating these mini websites you will help to push any negative web pages down the search engines. Because it could take weeks and sometimes months for web pages to be indexed by the search engines, as an internet defamation lawyer, I always advise to have these blogs, or mini websites already prepared, indexed and ready to go on demand. Speak to your internet people today and ask them to create a few basic websites for you straight away, just in case….. ”
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Behind the music: Will the House of Lords block the Digital Economy Act? | Helienne Lindvall | Music | guardian.co.uk
via The Guardian
An interesting visit to Westminster suggests issues of filesharing and copyright are very much on the House of Lords’ agenda.
Read more: Behind the music: Will the House of Lords block the Digital Economy Act?