FC: The death of unmoderated discussion groups in France?

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Thu May 30 2002 - 17:42:35 PDT

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    From: "Benoit Tabaka" <benoit.tabakaat_private>
    To: <declanat_private>
    Subject: The death of french unmoderated forums
    Date: Wed, 29 May 2002 22:40:01 +0200
    
    Declan,
    
    A short piece of news from France. Yesterday, a french lower Court decided
    for the first time in Europe that a webmaster is responsible for comments
    published by Net surfers on unmoderated forums of its Internet site. This
    webmaster was sued for libel.
    
    This ruling sets a precedent whereby the webmaster (thus publisher) of a
    website can be held responsible for what is published in an non-moderated
    forum. This is the first step to the end for unmoderated online discussion
    on french (and perhaps european) websites.
    
    French décision :
    http://www.foruminternet.org/documents/jurisprudence/lire.phtml?id=323
    
    Best regards,
    
    Benoît Tabaka
    -
    
    
    
    
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