UKNM: Fwd: Anti-Censorship Web Site Censored

[Tomski]

anyone else get this?


kinda scary - time for many of us seek advice from m'learned friends, i fear


>Monday 10th April 2000 13:00 PRESS RELEASE

>AUTHOR: Campaign Against Censorship of the Internet in Britain

>

>For immediate release.

>

>

>             ANTI-CENSORSHIP WEB SITE CENSORED

>

>            Civil liberties web site the "Campaign Against

>            Censorship of the Internet in Britain"

>            (CACIB) was itself censored by its Internet Service

>            Provider today. The site was deleted from the ISP's

>            web servers in response to a complaint from

>            Laurence Godfrey, serial litigant, about reporting of

>            censorship in the UK.

>

>            Laurence Godfrey had settled an unrelated

>            defamation action against Demon Internet last

>            week. Commentators consider that law suit to have

>            shown that ISPs are legally liable for their

>            customers'actions.

>

>            "We greatly regret having to take this action but our

>            solicitors advise that the costs of defending a

>            potential libel action would be prohibitive, even

>            though a defence is most likely to be successful in

>            this case. We are only a small company and cannot

>            afford the risk." said Lee Maguire, spokesman for

>            the Internet Service Provider Instant Web Ltd.

>

>            The censored civil liberties campaign was outraged.

>            "This shows that ISPs desparately need legal

>            immunity from the actions of their customers. We

>            stand behind our comments, but the ISP is naturally

>            neither willing nor able to get involved. The result is

>            that we are presumed guilty, and censored, because

>            our ISP does not want to pay the legal fees to

>            defend us. This shows that ISPs desparately need

>            legal immunity from the actions of their customers."

>            said Malcolm Hutty, director of CACIB.

>

>            "We weren't even criticising Mr Godfrey

>            personnally: we were simply commenting on the

>            adverse consequences of the outcome of Godfrey

>            vs Demon Internet."

>

>            CACIB had run a story about yet another site that

>            had been closed down, where the ISP had cited

>            "the current legal environment" as a reason for not

>            being able to resist the complaint. CACIB had

>            described this outcome as being "Godfrey's first

>            victim" - a reference to the outcome of the libel suit

>            Godfrey launched against Demon Internet;

>            Laurence Godfrey coinsiders connecting the two

>            cases to be defamatory.

>

>            Perhaps the biggest irony is that Mr Hutty, as well

>            as being a director of CACIB, is also a founder and

>            employee of Instant Web. "On a personal level it

>            breaks my heart that the company I started is

>            forced into censorship." he said. "I don't blame my

>            colleagues, they're terrified. But I got into the

>            Internet because I believed in the promise of

>            freedom for all; I never imagined it would be the

>            most easily censored medium there is."

>

>            The CACIB web site is now hosted in the USA.

>

>

>-------------------ENDS----------------------------------------

>

>Notes to Editors:

>

>[1] For further information contact:

>

>Campaign Against Censorship of the Internet in Britain

>Malcolm Hutty

>020 7225 5418 (work)

>07970 736 976 (mobile)

>

>Instant-Web

>Silash Ruparell

>0207 589 4500

>

>[2] The CACIB web site is located at

>http://www.liberty.org.uk/cacib/

>This is now based on computer servers phyically located in the USA.

>

>[3] Malcolm Hutty is a minority share-holder and director of Instant Web.

>The decision to delete the CACIB web site was taken by his co-director,

>with Mr Hutty excusing himself from participation on the grounds

>of conflict of interest.

>

>[4] The legal advice referred to by Lee Maguire was given by

>Ince & Co, a major city law firm.



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