Whats going on?

[SIXFOOTSTEVE]

\" Let\'s see what happens \" , I\'m glad nothing did happen although to be honest I did half expect trouble ,it seems that very few protests go off quietly these days due to a minority bent on aggitation and disorder.

[Marc]

Tony

My comment was made as in \'I will abide by the rules as you are held liable for what I think/post in this forum, I was disagreeing that you should be held liable for them.\'

Hope this makes sense

Sunday lunchtime drinking eh

Do you know how the admin/owner of the domain is responsible for what is posted on sites/forums and is it the admin/owner or host of the site. How do some of the \'other\' sites get away with it.

Any idea on who polices it and how?

[mark]

most sites in their T\'s & C\'s state :\"the opinions expressed on this site are not neccessarily those of the site owners or administrators, and the owners/admin cannot be held responsible fo any views expressed herein\"

legally gets em out of it

[TC]

Sorry for the misinterpretation there, Marc.

Mark,
You can put whatever you like into a disclaimer on a sites\' terms & conditions, but it has no legal force.
The upshot is if a post is made which contains libelous, defamatory or remarks contrary to law and either the site owner or the site administrator are aware of such comments and take no action to remove them, it is THEY who are held accountable.
They must take action to remove the remarks / posts.

[Topfly]

hi lads & lasses, this thread is going nowhere everyone seems to have had their say if anymore has to be said get some placards made and head off to speakers corner at hyde park T C is dead right this is not a platform to vent our anger it\'s only for discussion hooray for democracy jim

[mark]

Sorry tony, but I\'ve got T\'s&C\'s which have been legalled for some of my clients including the BBC, Dyson and Kelloggs, the disclaimer protects them directly from any stement made by a thrid party. the finer points of the data protection act direct any litigation, to submission of facts from the sites owners and the legal requirement that any adminstrator or owner of any web site MUST keep a full record of every data connection and details of all data transfered in and out and from wherever for a period of 7 years.

In the case of litigation or at the request of the data protection registrar this information is to be given up to them

the onlycases I am aware of where a site owner has been pursued directly is where they failed to comply with the DPA, refused to give up information when a legal request had been made under the DPA, or had failed to register in the first (or a combination of any of the 3)

Been there and done all that, 7 years ago National Wind Power tried it on with me, claiming I was promoting defamatory staements had was guilty of dissemination of misinformation. I was/am registered with the DPA.

Duly I supplied the courts/DPR with server logs for the period in question, the courts were fully satisfied that I\'d covered my arse and directed that NWP need to direct litagation at any individual responsible, and critically, that they had to show \"just cause\" in order to bring such an action ie they had to demonstrate what damage had been done first

so that got rid of part one and there\'s is no legal grounding for their second claim, if there was every single mention that there has ever been on any forum anywhere could be claimed to be dissemination of misinformation. e.g, someone says that shop X is great, someone else goes there and gets a bum deal then the claim would stand of this and also one of misrepresantation.

the case was recorded in hansard, and I know for a fact that the bbc have told several potential ligants to go boil there heads in respect of comments made on their forums

ok, there may currently be a grey area in respect of the new \'incitement\' bill, as to what constitutes racial or religious hatred, If someone wanted to there\'s probably dozens of \'jokes\' in the barmaids bosom forum that fall foul

In the summing up of the case the judge likened a Bulletin Board to a public house bar. If 2 people at the bar say something defamatory does that make the landlord legally responsible/liable for those remarks.

[TC]

Thanks for that, Mark - excellent information (I\'m gonna keep that somewhere) and I bow to your superior knowledge over such matters.

All the information I\'ve looked at regarding internet law has bascicaly said the same thing - that being to the effect of:- if a site owner or administrator is aware of something being posted which is defamatory, libelous, etc, etc, and takes no action to remove the offending article, then they can be held accountable. However, simply removing the comments is usually enough to avoid any legal consequences.

Consequently, I won\'t be taking any chances on that score and will continue (for the time being) to run the site in the same manner I have done for almost 6 years.

[Edited on 12/2/2006 by TC]

[TC]

Just as a footnote to the above post......

I\'ve gotta say that since this thread has been running, I\'ve not once even had to consider removing anything posted by anyone.

Right at the start of the thread I asked people not to \"spoil it\" as it was an important issue to discuss - Thankyou ALL who have contributed to this discussion and have done so without \"spoiling it\".

[alan]

Very interesting Mark cheers.

[mark]

thats the crux tony when something is \"knowingly\" verboten. If you admit to knowing it is then...you can be seen as promoting it

[Davyred]

I\'m glad it didn\'t go that way Tony, it ended up a good thread with some excellent info and opinions.

[SIXFOOTSTEVE]

One of the top posts I\'ve read ,the level of response show\'s peoples feelings on this emotive and tricky area ,it\'s been responded to with maturity and not agression as it could have been ,nice to see.

[Mike.Haley]

Just got back again tonight.
Tony, Jim, the crack about the avatars was meant to be taken jokingly
( thats why I have,nt posted mine ) IThat was why I put the 3 smiley faces at the end.
But then again I broke my own rule of not getting involved with religion. Too many people take offence at the slightest joke and that dose not only apply to muslims. just think how many wars have been started in the name of religion? how many people have been slaughtered, in the name of religion?
Nuff said.

[willywetegg]

Oi Mike, what\'s wrong with me pic like mate lol.

Jim.

[Oblickta]

Was listening to the \"Brits\" tonight and just wondering what the event would be called if it was held in Pakistan and why we English, Ireish, Scottish and Welsh tolerate being refered to as \"Brits\" in the 21st century