>From today's Benton Headlines.. -ac
FREE-SPEECH FIGHT OVER WEBMASTER
Issue: Internet/Free-speech
Daniel Curzon-Brown, a veteran English teacher at City College of San
Francisco, is suing the Webmaster of Teacherreview.com, after postings on
the site called him "homomaniac" and "mentally ill". The site posts
anonymous critiques of instructors at the college. Curzon-Brown claims the
Webmaster, who is responsible for maintaining the site, should also be
responsible for any lies and libelous material posted online. Opponents to
the lawsuit say that a Webmaster should be granted the same immunity from
libel as an Internet service provider (ISP). Unlike newspaper publishers,
who are responsible for all material printed in their newspapers, an ISP is
not liable if a third party provided the information. "I haven't done
anything wrong," said the Webmaster, "I'm just a conduit for opinion. "The
suit also names the college and its student government body for having
linked their sites to -- and implicitly endorsed -- Teacherreview.com. "This
is a very important case," said Ann Brick of the ACLU in San Francisco.
"Sites like this are the quintessential forum for expression of
opinion...The First Amendment protects comments that are both unkind and
flattering."
[SOURCE: San Jose Mercury Times Interactive, AUTHOR: Lisa Fernandez]
(http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/indepth/docs/webwar030700.htm)
Andy Carvin
WWWEDU Coordinator and Moderator
andy@gsn.org