Say Anything Blog

This is good news.

The California Supreme Court today reversed an appeals court decision in a much-watched Internet case, ruling that individuals are generally immune from liability for transmitting over the Internet content that was authored by someone else.

Legal experts say the decision is in line with prior court rulings on immunity for transmitting content online originating from someone else, who themselves may still be held liable for defamation or other claims. The California court ruling came in the case of Stephen J. Barrett et al. v. Ilena Rosenthal. The case concerned an article Ms. Rosenthal received via email and posted on two Web newsgroups that the plaintiffs argued was defamatory.

“This opinion reinforces the broad reach of federal statutory immunization for content published by third-parties online,” said Eric Goldman, Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law and Director of the school’s High Technology Law Institute. “This case is significant because it shuts down all of the workarounds people have been trying to find.”

Translated from legalese, what this means is that people who run websites that accept content (posts, comments, etc.) from third parties (you the readers) cannot be held accountable for that content.  Like, for instance, if one of you commenters libels someone or discloses sensitive personal information in the comments section or the reader blogs here at SA it isn’t my fault.  Which is as it should be.

I write most of the posts here on SA, but the content written by people other than myself (in the form of comments and reader blog entries) far surpasses my output.  Right now there are about half a dozen reader blog entries and about 300 - 500 comments posted on SA every single day.  I just don’t have the time to go through all of that myself, nor do I have the resources to hire someone else to help me do it.  So given that reality, it’s only fair that you folks should be held responsible for what you write even if you are posting it on my website.

Now if I’m contacted by someone about inappropriate content posted here on SA and I refuse to remove it or otherwise address the issue I think I should be held responsible for that as I am giving it my blessing by allowing it to remain on my website.  But outside of that, if you write it on the internet you own it.

Be careful what you say.