I was recently struck by just how new most of the legislation creating duties for operators of electronic communications network is. Compared to the Computer Misuse Act, which has only had one amendment since 1990, these laws seem to be changing a lot faster:
Data Retention (EC Directive) Regulations 2009 – with a significant update already [...]
An interesting case, reported by SCL with a good article explaining the issues, has hinted that there might be a third defence to liability for a web host where allegedly defamatory comments are posted. However the case doesn’t provide much detail on when that defence might apply.
In English Common Law, someone who publishes a [...]
The Ministry of Justice has published their response to the Joint Parliamentary Committee’s comments on a proposed Defamation Bill. As discussed in a previous post, those comments included a novel suggestion that third party postings on websites be treated differently depending on whether the posting is attributed or anonymous. For organisations that allow such postings [...]
Having been involved, a long time ago, in discussions of the Bill that became the Terrorism Act 2006, I was surprised to see a headline that “MPs urge internet providers to tackle on-line extremism”. That Act is one of the few where a hosting site can commit a serious criminal offence if they don’t take [...]