Theos-Talk Archives (August 2001 Message tt00031)

...---...
"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."
-----