Defamation Law – Part I – February 2009
The internet has radically changed the nature of defamation law. Although it was once a specialised subject left to media lawyers it is now a subject on which most internet lawyers have to advise. World wide web defamation is, nevertheless, significantly different from much more standard defamation instances.
Comments produced on the net can be immediately and indefinitely accessible to millions of folks around the world. Even if the original web site where the comment was posted has disappeared the comments could stay cached in a search engine or have been repeated on other sites or blogs. On the other hand comments produced in a newspaper or magazine have a far more limited readership and much more likely to be forgotten in a couple of days.
As there is so a lot content on the net much of which has questionable veracity, there is the question whether readers of the defamatory post actually believe it. Whereas if defamatory comments are carried in print newspapers they are far much more significant as print media is regulated and publication requirements are far more rigorous. So all these differences between on-line and offline defamation makes it tough to calculate the actual harm caused by on on-line comments.
Alter in the role of publisher