UKNM: Legal Responsibility of Content

[Craig Pickup]

Sam wrote:


> On a point of moderation, I'll only stop messages going to the list if they

> are completely off-topic e.g. Make Money Fast! (no matter how much we'd

> like it to be true). Regarding the laws of the land, your postings are your

> own, and I take no responsibility for the messages on the mailing list and

> accordingly I won't forward any which don't have a proper sender field.


I may be mistaken but my understanding is that if someone takes any role in

policing content before it appears in a medium, then they become liable for all

the content appearing via that medium. This is an important area not just for

its relevance in this list but for any area where the "public" are able to

contribute content dynamically whether it be an email list or a web page. They

legal position is different I believe were a "moderator" takes action after the

publication of the content to remove it.


Does anyone have a definitive position on this or know where there is further

information to be had?


Another interesting legal question often overlooked with email is whether it is

subject to the same rules of communication as other forms of business

correspondence - for instance, should it carry company registration number and

registered address, etc? How do you differentiate between a private and company

email message when they are sent from the same address?


Craig Pickup