ORM (Online Reputation Managment / 'Rating') Websites At Risk?

[CptSternn]

Website accused of defamation is closed by judge - Courts, National News - Independent.ie

A JUDGE yesterday ordered a website to be shut down and said lawmakers should think about making it illegal to post "patently untrue" allegations about people on the internet.

Mr Justice Michael Peart was speaking after he granted Damien Tansey various orders, effectively ending the operation of the website www.rate-your-solicitor.com.

No free speech obviously. You can't post a bad review in Ireland, legally, else you will be taken to court and any website that allows it can be shut down.

[David Cochrane]

No, the issue i suppose with posting anonymously is that some people think what they post online shouldnt be taken seriously.

Whilst ive no issue with anonymnity really, I think people shouldnt ever post something online that they wouldnt want beside their name elsewhere.

[statsman]

lawmakers should think about making it illegal to post "patently untrue" allegations about people on the internet

And this would be a bad thing because?

[Verhofstadt]

Some of the stuff on Rate your solicitor was extremely ripe, it was obviously extremely poorly moderated with some posters having fairly unbalanced vendettas against particular legal eagles.. served no purpose to the consumer.

[Panopticon]

No free speech obviously.

You're right, we don't have free speech for "patently untrue" allegations.

If you would like to defend this principle, go ahead, but it's not so simple as saying it.

[Dan_Murphy]

Cars can be used in bank robberies, doesn't mean I would shut down Ford.

Why go after the website and not the user who posted the untrue rating?

[Libero]

A JUDGE yesterday ordered a website to be shut down and said lawmakers should think about making it illegal to post "patently untrue" allegations about people on the internet... It is also against the US-based internet services provider, Dostster Inc, which hosts the site.

I wonder how this news will go down in the Dublin offices of Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.

More to the point, I wonder how it will go down in the HQs in the USA that decide there should be offices in Dublin.

[johnfás]

I wonder how this news will go down in the Dublin offices of Facebook, Google, Twitter, etc.

More to the point, I wonder how it will go down in the HQs in the USA that decide there should be offices in Dublin.

It's coming down the road in all jurisdictions so it won't worry them too much. Rights to delete (properly) data on sites like Facebook are all likely to be introduced and auto prompts etc on google searches are also likely to limit over the next number of years.

[Sync]

Cars can be used in bank robberies, doesn't mean I would shut down Ford.

Why go after the website and not the user who posted the untrue rating?

Well that's where clarity is needed. The people who seem to think that just because they say something under the mirage of being anonymous that what they say shouldn't be defamatory can be dismissed. They're having an argument over the nature of defmation/libel as opposed to how defamtion/libel affect the internet.

If I as a website owner allow people on to say whatever they want and ignore warning from those being libelled, then I can see the argument to shut that site down. If however I let you log on and delete the comment when it's highlighted, I'm far more reluctant to think I should be held responsible for that.

[kalipa]

Cars can be used in bank robberies, doesn't mean I would shut down Ford.

Why go after the website and not the user who posted the untrue rating?

Why not go after both as the website administration can control what they allow and
are therefore as culpable as the poster imo