Quote:
Originally Posted by Frank
Since none of these threads have been removed even after moderators have examined/participated in them I must presume that they contain no criminal incitement of the sort.
Second, unlike your putrid filthy no-good communist cesspool of a nation; America has a strong attachment to free speech; it is not illegal to offer an opinion of what you would like to see happen to people. In America I could say that I would not object to people being killed and as long as I do not openly make a statement that leads to imminent lawlessness or constitutes a criminal conspiracy to commit an actual crime this is protected free speech.
Third, I am not convinced that U.S. law allows for the punishment of a site owner for the comments of people made on his site. I heard the Supreme Court recently made such a determination? Maybe O'Sullivan can address this issue?
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I can't specifically comment on any of the threads being alleged because I don't know which ones they are.
This is a US hosted website so we follow its laws. It's simply impractical to know and enforce all the global laws that may exist in other nations, many of which may even be paradoxical to American law when compared to each other.
I would advise anyone to use the report button on any post anyone thinks may be a violation of US law. We have over a million posts on the forum, not counting deletions and a one time pruning of posts that deleted tonnes more of them. Thus, we just can't see everything. Without a reported post, the odds are that it will get missed unless one of the team happens to spot something by chance as they post themselves on a thread.
As for the owner not bearing liability for what others post, that is a murky and still developing area of the law.
For example, there is the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act
Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
That contains many white, black and grey areas.
There is also the Communications Decency Act:
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
There are other statutes, of course, as well as developing case law in courts. Certain kinds of protections and non-protections exist. I'd also point out that case law concerning upholding and interpreting such statutory laws and common law causes of action in civil matters are still developing.
Certain ares concern us more than others given the whole picture of the developing laws and case decisions in this area. For example, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act expressly excludes federal criminal liability and intellectual property law issues from the scope of immunity granted therein. Thus, we don't allow plagiarism and copyright infringement here and we also do not allow anything that would potentially constitute a criminal offence under US law.
Many of these concerns are not just out of fear of Marc getting exposed to any sorts of criminal and/or civil liability, although that is the top concern. He also doesn't need the hassles relating to anyone looking to go after the posters themselves. For example, Marc or others may get a subpoena and/or the host may get one, to get background information on someone who has committed an alleged criminal offence or a civil tort. Nobody needs that BS in their lives. Thus, if some poster wants that kind of trouble, then they can do it on their own time and dime on their own sites and though their own means.