Legal debate rages over blogs
A Web site by a mystery rent boy, which listed his alleged clients (it has since been withdrawn), has sparked calls for government regulation of blogs, counter-claims that this would be an attack on the right to free speech, and heated debate over whether anonymity on the Web is a good or bad thing.
Johannesburg-based lawyer Lance Michalson says that there is no direct law on blogging, although laws against defamation can apply. Michalson says section 75 of the Electronic Communications and Transmissions Act protects Internet service providers who host defamatory content against liability if they do not know about the content, but it compels them to remove it when asked to do in terms of a so-called take down notice. Michael Yeates, an associate at Leppan Beech Attorneys, says there is a risk to companies when employees use blogs to make statements that fall into the category of defamation. Yeates says that employees must know what defamation is really about and the company itself needs to have a code of conduct that forbids defamation and deals with similar issues, such as hate speech.
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The issue of blogs is taken up in todays eLaw & Management, with an entrepreneur-turned-dissenter describing the Internet as a jungle peopled by intellectual yahoos and digital thieves. Privacy is another issue tackled in the latest eLaw & Management Google has found itself under the spotlight for allegedly violating our privacy by gathering information from our computers and keeping an eye on our activities from space. These are just a taste of a comprehensive menu of IT law reports featured in the latest issue of our weekly companion product. The popular newsletter provides subscribers with an overview of global developments in electronic law and technology risk. for a free month\'s trial subscription.