Theos-Talk Archives (August 2001 Message tt00030)

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"Last week, Judge James Richman dismissed part of a lawsuit filed by two

physicians who claimed that a woman re-posted a libelous article that
accused one of the doctors of stalking a Canadian journalist. "

"[A]s a user of an interactive computer service, that is, a newsgroup,
[the
defendant] is not the publisher or speaker of [the] piece. Thus, she
cannot be
civilly liable for posting it on the Internet. She is immune," wrote
Richman."

"Internet free speech watchdogs hailed Richman's 27-page decision, which

interprets key provisions of the Communications Decency Act. "The judge
did not create this out of thin air," said Lee Tien, an attorney with
the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "The statute specifically does give
speech in interactive computer services more protection."
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