The Internet Service Providers' Association of Ireland (ISPAI) has said it is disturbed by the decision of a British Internet service provider (ISP) to pay more than £200,000 sterling (€332,391) in damages and costs to settle a libel action.
The settlement by Demon Internet over material posted on one of its Internet newsgroups may have serious consequences for the Internet industry here, if ISPs are to be held responsible for the material they transmit over the Internet.
Demon was sued by Dr Laurence Godfrey after it failed to comply with his demand to remove a "squalid, obscene and defamatory" posting about him from its servers in 1997. According to Mr Cormac Calla nan, chairman of the ISPAI: "Although this was an out of court settlement, there is grave concern that this type of precedent puts out the wrong signals for the future. We cannot be responsible for people's activities online or make judgment calls as to what is illegal."
A number of commentators have dismissed the case as unique because Demon failed to act after it had been put on notice about the defamatory material. "The most sensible thing an ISP can do is remove postings that are brought to their attention as being potentially defamatory or libellous. This is not an admission of liability, but merely prudent action," said Ms Carol Plunkett, technology law unit partner with A&L Goodbody solicitors, said.
The European ISP industry is lobbying hard at EU level to be treated like telephone companies, which take no liability for the content they carry. A European e-commerce directive is expected to remove liability from ISPs that take down postings or websites after they have been put on notice.
Mr Mark Beggs, head of consumers and small and medium enterprises at ISPs Eircom Net and Indigo said: "When you have a massive number of customers, it is impossible to monitor what each is doing online. It's up to customers to bring items of bad taste to our attention and we then have people to handle these issues directly."
