Defamation

28 August 2013 at 9:36am
Implementation of the new provisions for website operators under the Defamation Act 2013 has come a step closer, with the Ministry of Justice seeking comments on draft implementing Regulations. INFORRM has a summary of the process, with a helpful flowchart.
26 April 2013 at 11:54pm
The passing of the Defamation Act 2013 this week removes a couple of areas of legal uncertainty if you run a website, blog, etc. and someone else posts an article or comment that may be defamatory. First, provided you aren’t acting maliciously, you don’t risk liability merely by moderating what is posted. Second, the Act tries to ensure that defamation claims are settled either between the author and the person allegedly defamed, or by the courts.
18 January 2013 at 11:33am
[Updated to add clause 6 on peer-reviewed scientific and academic journals] The House of Lords debate of clause 5 of the Defamation Bill this week suggested that the Bill might make it easier for universities and colleges to support vigorous debate through their websites.
11 October 2012 at 10:16am
The Defamation Bill arrived in the House of Lords this week. Most of the debate concentrated on how to reform the definition of defamation and the court processes for dealing with it. However Lord McNally (at Column 934) gave a good summary of the twin problems affecting websites that host content provided by third parties:
13 December 2012 at 9:59am
The House of Commons has published a useful summary of progress on the Defamation Bill, which will return to Parliament next week. Clause 5 of the Bill proposes changes to the current regime for websites hosting allegedly defamatory postings from third parties. When it was last discussed in the House, before the summer, concerns were expressed that the Bill:
5 July 2012 at 1:56pm
The European Commission have opened a consultation on “notice and action” procedures (in the UK we tend to refer to them as notice and takedown) by those who host content on the Internet. Since Janet customers may see a different side of the issue from us as operators of the network, it would be helpful to get your comments to inform our response. First there are some specific questions from the consultation:
13 December 2012 at 10:00am
Under current defamation law, if a website wants to avoid all risk of liability for material posted by third parties then its best approach is to not moderate postings when they are made, and remove them promptly when any complaint is made.
13 December 2012 at 10:01am
Parliament's Joint Committee on Human Rights has asked for evidence on the Defamation Bill, so I've sent in a Janet submission pointing out the human rights issues that could be raised by the B
This is JANET(UK)’s response to the Ministry of Justice consultation on a draft Defamation Bill. JANET(UK) is the operator of the UK’s national research and education network, JANET, which connects all universities, colleges, research organisations and regional schools networks together, to national research and education networks in other countries, and to the Internet.
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