This is JANET(UK)’s response to the European Commission’s consultation “on the future of electronic commerce in the internal market and the implementation of the Directive on Electronic Commerce (2000/31/EC)”.
This is JANET(UK)’s response to the DTI consultation on the Electronic Commerce Directive: the Liability of Hyperlinkers, Location Tool Services and Content Aggregators, published in June 2005, reference 05/1245.
The 21st June sitting of the Commons Defamation Bill Committee provided some hints at answers to my questions about the Bill’s definitions and process.
Two consultations have come along at once – one from Westminster and one from Brussels – that both seem to recognise the problems with incentives that current liability rules create for sites that host third party content.
The new Defamation Bill promised in the Queen’s Speech has now been published. Although it also contains changes to what statements can give rise to liability for defamation, the most interesting part for network operators is likely to be the new provisions on liability for those who host third party content on web sites and blogs.
Yesterday at the State Opening of Parliament the Queen's Speech announced the Government's plan for legislation in the next year. A couple of the proposed Bills seem likely to affect network operators.
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.
The report of Parliament's Joint Committee on the Draft Defamation Bill acknowledges the problems raised in our response to the consultation and proposes some novel solutions.
