A recent High Court ruling held that the operator of a blogging website can avoid liability for content posted on his website so long as he does not interfere with the original posting. Making adjustments to the posting including fixing spelling or grammar could lose him that defence. Under the terms of the e-Commerce Directive Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as well as other web hosts and search engines are exempt from liability for information that they store provided that they had no involvement in creating or editing the post, further it must be removed once they are aware that it breaks the law. FE and HE institutions, as service providers, are cautiously reminded of the legal risks associated with such websites and the importance of a notice and take down policy to mitigate circumstances regarding material that could be posted by their users. For the full judgment please refer to : http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2010/690.html.
(09/04/10)