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Originally Posted by PornoDoggy
So - you, as an owner of Oprano, think that you should be accountable for my actions on your board?
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forum owners should be held responsible, because doing nothing helps facilitate the wrong doing. the forum owner is actually in a situation where they BENEFIT from libel and slander. when someone seriously slanders a company, it is certain to get a lot of attention, the drama increases threadviews, pageviews, etc. theres motivation for them to actually leave it there, even if they know its not truthful.
forum owners cannot sit back and idly watch as people committ crimes. ignorance is not defense. they provide an outlet for any person to communicate with many people, which is a very powerful and beneficial tool, but in certain situations and the specific situation this law addresses, it can be abused.
the law would make forum owners act in a certain way should someone libel a company, they would have the added responsibility of ensuring its truthful. gonzo is right, the laws do apply to the internet, however they are hard to enforce which is what this law addresses
theres one flaw i see to all of this which hasn't been brought up, and thats mikeai's fear of a big, interventionalist gov't. any time info is collected, you have to be wary that the gov't we have in place may use it for whatever they deem necessary which is scary. they have already tried manipulating and modifying laws and actions to do just this (See google and the gov't attempting to collect info on peoples search behavior). personal information is precious, but this flaw is one you cannot stop. all you can do is go out and elect the right people who won't abuse the power (good luck).
other than that, this law is great. people may not see it as a big problem now, but in the future i anticipate this will be a huge problem.