posted
Okay - Now perhaps I am getting a little tired of this however while reading the British Mag Internet Magazine yesterday the news section seemed to read more like an obituary than here is todays Internet News.
First up Demon Internet were taken to court by a Phyicist. Apparently someone had posted a message on their usenet system defaming this guy and his work. So rather than tracking down this person, he took Demon Internet to court. Demon said - why are we getting taken to court - we did not post the message? This is similar to obscene phone calls - who do you blame - the nut on the end of the line or the Phone Company??? So the good old crack pot judge decided that Demon were at fault and promptly - they got sued.
The effect? Well, in the UK now any loony who goes to a forum, and decides to make trouble and then gets some nasty liblous comments back can now in theory sue the ISP. Oh FUN! Demon have appealed against this ruling and God only hopes they win, because communities online are now under threat. There is even talk of Usenet being removed from 80% of UK based ISP's. In addition anyone who own a Chat room or Forum system will now have to rethink.
On another side note those good old people from the Performing Rights Society are now on the war path again. Every time a tune is played in the UK the person or organisation in charge of the broadcasting company has to pay them a small fee for being allowed to play it. And now they have decided to take the internet head on. If you have a UK website which either broadcasts over the internet, or you have sound bytes on your site, or even if you have midi on your site - hell, a six second clip of Picard farting - YOU ARE NOW GOING TO HAVE TO PAY FOR IT..... unless you can prove that you soley did the work yourself. Yes - I think that will effectively kill any remaining sound clips on the UK Internet.
posted
I dunno. There must be SOME judges out there with a grasp on reality. There must be some who are living in the 90s. Hell, Even a judge living in the 70s would be an improvement over most of those we keep seeoming to read about.
Demon have done nothing wrong. I personally think that the scientist knows that Demon has done nothing wrong, but if he sues them, he's more likely to get a bigger wodge of cash.
------------------ 'Those are the headlines. Happy now?' -Chris Morris.
posted
In the United States, the Supreme Court has ruled the Internet to be a lot like an ongoing conversation. As such, there is no one ultimately responsible for content.
However, there is currently a suit pending that is suing computer game companies, sites, the movie and music industry, in relation to...a school shooting, I think. Anyway, we'll see how that one turns out.
------------------ "It was sweet, like lead paint's sweet, but the aftereffects left me paralyzed." -- They Might Be Giants
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