Comment is free: Keeping mum on the net

Article discussing the right to free speech on the internet, in context of current situation involving Gina Ford and mumsnet forums.

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I’ve been following this story closely for a few days, there are several issues here involving freedom of speech on the internet in the UK. What is fair criticism? Is downright nastiness actually libel? Should an ISP be liable for possible libel committed on their servers. If as seems possible, this ends up in court, it could well be a landmark case. We have Demon vs Godfrey, which established what seems to be a large swathe of precedent over what seems to me a narrow set of circumstances. It would be very interesting if this case was fought, as a result in favour of Mumsnet could change that substantially, and potentially make ISPs a lot bolder about standing up for their users.