Proposed Law Gives ISPs 14 Days to Act
June 7th, 2010 by adminA new law that has been put forward by a Liberal Democrat MP could provide much needed clarity on the length of time permitted for publishers to act when defamatory content has not been removed online.
Currently, the law enables companies to limit liability provided they have removed a defamatory article or comment posting as speedily as is reasonably possible once they have been notified of such.
If passed, the result of the new libel act would mean that those in an indirect role, such as publishers and online platform providers, would become responsible for their part but would at least know exactly where they stand with regard to the time limit is resolving any issue that may arise.
The existing laws on libellous content online have long been the subject of criticism by consumer groups and campaigners. When in term, the Labour Government stated that the law operated to protect companies reputations rather than to act as an advocate to encourage freedom of speech. At present, the Government has not yet decided whether or not it shall support the implementation of this proposed Libel Bill.
The suggested Bill recommends that the judiciary should consider certain conditions such as the nature of the news stories or scientific studies being based on the findings evident at that time which may result in such stories or studies being deemed defamatory or libellous without intent.
Also the Bill, if enacted, could successfully diminish the amount of time in which action can be taken against something that is libellous or defamatory. By virtue of current legislation, the twelve month time limit can be extended indefinitely without liability provided the defamatory comment or blog post has been removed by the publisher in a reasonable amount of time after they have been notified of such.
The introduction of the Libel Bill would replace the currently available defence of ‘fair comment’ which is available to those whom have merely expressed a reasonable opinion. Such a law could also make many online resources amend their website terms and conditions to limit their liability for comment posters opinion where they are merely the publisher.
This proposal may set the bar for people and companies to meet if they seek compensation for a libellous comment made in reference to them. Companies would only be able to take a case to court where they have suffered a considerable financial loss and individuals would be required to show that they have suffered substantial harm to their reputation.
In recent years, the UKs libel laws have drawn many foreign cases due to the concept that our laws currently look to the protection of the individual’s reputation rather than the context of the libellous or defamatory comment.
