Internet re-defamation Victory
by RebelSnake | Published on November 25th, 2006, 8:44 am | Life
GOPUSA
California permits Internet re-defamation
By UPI Staff
United Press International
November 22, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- California's Supreme Court has ruled only those people who originate defamatory remarks on the Internet can be sued and not those who republish them.
The ruling in San Francisco overturned a lower court ruling in 2004 in which two doctors claimed a San Diego alternative-medicine advocate had republished defamatory comments about them on Internet newsgroups.
Associate Justice Carol Corrigan wrote in the decision the ruling had "some troubling consequences," but said it was the most a state supreme court could do, the Oakland (Calif.) Tribune reported.
"Until Congress chooses to revise the settled law in this area, however, plaintiffs who contend they were defamed in an Internet posting may only seek recovery from the original source of the statement," she wrote.
Ann Brick, an American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney who filed a friend-of-the-court brief on the advocate's behalf, praised the court's ruling as "an important victory for free speech -- it means the Internet will remain this exceptionally vibrant forum for the exchange of ideas."
I'm sure a lot of people will rest easier now knowing they won't be sued for posting someone else's defamatory rubbish.
