Mods liable for posts

[FeuerFrei]

German court rules moderators liable for forum comments

By Jan Libbenga
Published Friday 21st April 2006 12:05 GMT


A Hamburg court has ruled that moderators of internet forums are liable for content posted on their sites.

The previous interpretation held that they were only accountable for illegal content they had been made aware of. The new ruling means if operators do not have enough in-house resources to monitor forums, they should "reduce the scope of their business operations".

The case started with a forum member of German news site Heise Online, who posted a script in order to disrupt the business practices of Universal Boards. This Munich company has been widely criticised for allegedly distributing premium rate internet dialers. Universal Boards was also accused of buying up domain names that expired, and then using those domains for advertising porn, including a site that was previously owned by a German Volunteer Firemen's Association.

Last year Universal Boards demanded that Heise removed the script, which it did, but the publisher refused to sign a formal obligation. Universal Boards then asked the district court to issue a temporary restraining order. The legal fight continued until last week, when the judge handed down his final ruling.

Legal experts now fear that because of the ruling, lawyers will be seeking damages from moderators who they believe are breaking the law. Heise says it will appeal the ruling.®
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:beer: for the Germans

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

bad, bad idea. Say someone posts something on my forum. I find it the following day and remove it. Am I still liable? Under that, yes.

 

[KarenMarie]

if they did that here... ATOT would be a ghost town.

 

[Goosemaster]

*hears the sound of a thousand moderately price lightbulbs suddenly going dark

 

[TGregg]

Nobody hates free speech as much at the Euroweenies, except for the Muslims. Now that I think about it, pretty much everybody hates free speech. Death to anybody who speaks! Off with his head!

 

[SparkyJJO]

interesting, not sure on how good idea it is, but interesting

 

[FoBoT]

so, if AT was hosted in Germany, could we sue if we got banned?

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: TGregg
Nobody hates free speech as much at the Euroweenies, except for the Muslims. Now that I think about it, pretty much everybody hates free speech. Death to anybody who speaks! Off with his head!

*grinds the axe*

 

[Sqube]

I don't see why the judge deserves kudos for that ruling. Apparently you need to have enough mods on hand to remove anything illegal before anybody manages to see it, or somebody can sue you for it?

That makes me

 

[RbSX]

Originally posted by: TGregg
Nobody hates free speech as much at the Euroweenies, except for the Muslims. Now that I think about it, pretty much everybody hates free speech. Death to anybody who speaks! Off with his head!

Oh shut up.

People should be liable for stuff posted on their boards.

 

[jagec]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: TGregg
Nobody hates free speech as much at the Euroweenies, except for the Muslims. Now that I think about it, pretty much everybody hates free speech. Death to anybody who speaks! Off with his head!

Oh shut up.

People should be liable for stuff posted on their boards.

Even though they didn't post it or encourage someone else to do so? The obvious counterargument is "they have a responsibility to remove it if it's illegal," but what if they didn't see it in time, or someone reports it to the authorities before they get to it?

People should be responsible for their OWN actions. ALWAYS.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: TGregg
Nobody hates free speech as much at the Euroweenies, except for the Muslims. Now that I think about it, pretty much everybody hates free speech. Death to anybody who speaks! Off with his head!

Oh shut up.

People should be liable for stuff posted on their boards.

I agree, to an extent though. Answer me these questions.

How long does a moderator have to remove a post?
What constitutes a post that must legally be removed? Ok, one saying to blow up a certain building, yeah. What about one detailing a gripe about a company that they would consider libel? Where does it stop?

 

[arcenite]

I think the idea behind this is to make maybe the screening of members a little tighter?

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Originally posted by: arcenite
I think the idea behind this is to make maybe the screening of members a little tighter?

How? The only way to do so would be to require every person to scan their national ID in when they create an account with any website.

 

[simms]

I think this was one isolated case where the forum operators were clearly trying to exploit other websites in order to make money. In that case where it was delibrately damaging other sites and causes malicious harm.

Otherwise I don't see this being carried out in any of the 50 states or in the EU.

 

[tk149]

Slippery slope FTW!

:|

 

[Juno]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
so, if AT was hosted in Germany, could we sue if we got banned?

let's sue and every banned user will go home rich.

 

[Red Dawn]

If it came to that Anand would just shut Anandtech down.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
If it came to that Anand would just shut Anandtech down.

I think Wally would shut down TFNN waaay earlier

 

[daveymark]

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
If it came to that Anand would just shut Anandtech down.

how so?

Take care,

Anand

 

[Whitecloak]

Originally posted by: Phil

Originally posted by: Red Dawn
If it came to that Anand would just shut Anandtech down.

I think Wally would shut down TFNN waaay earlier

no wai!

 

[Midlander]

Originally posted by: jagec

People should be responsible for their OWN actions. ALWAYS.

Precisely! I just wish the courts saw it this way. :|

 

[Specop 007]

Originally posted by: RyanSengara

Originally posted by: TGregg
Nobody hates free speech as much at the Euroweenies, except for the Muslims. Now that I think about it, pretty much everybody hates free speech. Death to anybody who speaks! Off with his head!

Oh shut up.

People should be liable for stuff posted on their boards.

The the dumbest thing said all day.
You cant honestly be this stupid can you??

 

[zanieladie]

 

[DaiShan]

Originally posted by: SarcasticDwarf
bad, bad idea. Say someone posts something on my forum. I find it the following day and remove it. Am I still liable? Under that, yes.

Do you live in Germany? If not then you are not liable for fvck all.