California court gives immunity to bloggers

Last week, MSNBC reported the California Supreme Court ruled that bloggers and participants in Internet bulletin board groups cannot be sued for re-posting defamatory statements made by others.

This case has been watched very closely by free speech groups and provides the same protection that internet service providers receive for hosting content posted by others. From the article:

The case involved a lawsuit against Ilena Rosenthal, a women’s health activist, who created an e-mail list and a newsgroup (alt.support.breast-implant) to discuss issues related to breast implants. Six years ago, she posted a letter written by a man who was highly critical of the efforts of a doctor to discredit advocates of alternative health treatments.

In the letter, the doctor, Terry Polevoy, was accused of trying to get an alternative medicine radio program canceled by using "scare tactics, stalking, and intimidation techniques" against the program’s producer. Polevy, who maintained a website himself to expose what he called "health fraud and quackery" sued Rosenthal for libel.

Rosenthal argued she did not write the letter herself, posting the work of another to the news group.

I’m not a legal eagle, but I would tend to apply this ruling to comments made by others to my posts, as well as comments made to other comments. While I moderate comments on this blog, visitors have made inflammatory statements about others, for which I should not be held responsible. I ask those who make comments to stay on topic, and avoid stupidity.

Read the entire article: "Calif. court says bloggers can’t be sued".