Can someone post legal links concerning protection against posters. I was under the impression when someone makes a post, liable, copyright, slander, then the forum would be safe, unless the forum posted this info directly, and the person that makes the post could be held liable...here is an example site where a forum member has made a slander post, or accused of slander, and now the forum is going through a lawsuit, and the forum members are kicking in big bucks also... Maldives Scuba Diving v. Scubaboard.com This forum also had a choice to remove any slanderous content, but they made a choice to keep it, and leech their forum members for funds in order to pay for the lawsuit, since the forum itself obviously does not make that much money, and the forum gets a great deal for legal donations...why would anyone with common sense choose to go this route, he could have just removed the content, and moved on with his life...I guess he just needs the money. My question is: Is there any online legal sites that say websites are safe from 3rd party posters? I know there is, I just can not find them at the moment.
There is no such thing as a "forum that is safe from a lawsuit" - you can sue anyone and force them to spend legal fees defending the suit. Just because you are sued, it doesn't mean you will lose and be forced to pay damages. Forums (at least in the US) generally do have protection, but it really depends on where they are located as laws vary by State. It's not uncommon for a forum to be served with a court order if they will not release the identities of posters. Generally speaking, a forum should have a tos and follow it - only removing posts that violate it. When you start selectively moderating some posts, but not others, it leaves they door open to the argument that the forum removed the ones it didn't agree with, and left the ones that it did. That why a lot of the larger forums don't get involved in actively moderating posts except for things like profanity. Years ago, I was involved in a similar lawsuit where the owners of the forum was sued - and it was a tactic by an attorney/poster to try and get negative posts removed by forcing the company to spend large sums of money in court. I think somewhere around $50K in legal fees were spent and it was ultimately thrown out of court.
That basicly sucks. the law says forum owners are safe from what their posters post, then turn around and bite the bullet for court costs, then ends up getting tossed. It would have just been a civil case rather then being out of $50k for no reason, it would have been best just not show up to court... O.J stalled for years without paying civil fines..not sure if they ever got anything from him...that being said, do you really think you are going to get something out of a forum? I think it would have been best for the forum to save the $50k and let the other party win...and what would they win? certainly almost nothing from a forum...write it off in BK or something...
The forum owner was a multi-million dollar corporation and was being sued for millions. They were also suing posters. These individuals were shady and had a long history of filing these types of lawsuits (one of guys was attorney, one was a convicted felon who had done hard time). They had made death threats and were also attempting to gain the identities of a number of posters. It probably cost them a few hundred to file the suit and ignoring it would have not been an effective strategy. If a forum was a corporation with little assets, then they could ignore it and ownership could transfer to the suing party - which is something the suing party would probably want. Even if the forum hadn't been sued, a large forum would suffer by turning over IP information of a bunch of posters who were doing nothing wrong.
But...what law in whose jurisdiction exactly says that? There have been a few decisions not holding some forum owners liable for other peoples' actions, though they don't really say they can't be if ever for something else. If you're thinking of Mr. Mehmet's recent thread, let him walk his talk. No law says he or anyone can't sue anybody for whatever, though there are exceptions for certain things. Frankly, I'm rather surprised I don't see any custom-made terms of use for this one other than the generic ones from vBulletin. I suppose the forum's owners are prepared to deal with legal issues arising from here such as that cookie thingie from eBay.
then they could ignore it and ownership could transfer to the suing party - which is something the suing party would probably want. Interesting, but unlikely to happen...Just because you sue me for something and win, does not mean you will get it... Even O.J. lost a civil matter with the death of his wife or ex, and they tried to get money from him for years, not sure if they ever did, and he swore they would never get any money from him either, so just because they won, does not mean they ever got anything...
Getting a known asset like the forum wouldn't be hard to do. Collecting on a judgment can be difficult when someone doesn't have the money or assets are hidden. Forum ownership is known. OJ lost everything but his retirement (including his house). They can't collect the $33 million because he doesn't have it. You really don't want a judgment following you for life unless you are a total loser who will never have any assets or a job where the funds can be attached.
If it were that easy, I think every one out there would be filing judgements for everyones sites..as we do know there are a lot of very questionable sites out there, and sites that should not be there at all, but they are anyway. Even sites that clearly contain content from other sites....
The point was, only someone with nothing to lose would not answer a lawsuit. There is something like 15 - 20 million civil suits filed every year in the US - I think that number speaks for itself.