There was speculation during the week that Kevin Myers had not been seen for some time in the pages of the IT. The SBP report that Myers has resigned, and is in talks with the Indo.
Bloggers not immune from libel laws
Karyn Harty, the lady lawyer who sent out press releases earlier this month, has a guest article in today’s Irish Times. It seems to be a little more carefully worded in relation to the difference between an ISP and a host, but some of it still puzzles me.
Unlike their US counterparts, Irish ISPs do not enjoy any immunity under Irish law at present and generally take a constructive approach if pressed, although they will often seek to deny liability initially.
Where material that has been posted is plainly defamatory it is usually possible either to persuade them to close down the website or remove the offending content.
The Defamation Bill is expected to leave scope for companies like ISPs to be held liable for defamation, but there needs to be a serious debate about the extent to which we should make it harder for someone defamed on the internet to remove offensive material or close down websites.
For most people affected by internet libel, the priority is action rather than compensation. The stick that forces ISPs to act as the law currently stands is the potential for litigation. If that is diluted, people defamed on the internet may be left much worse off.
I have to ask again, in what way can an Irish ISP be forced to remove content from a foreign host? Perhaps what she is getting at is that the ISP could be forced to disclose the IP address of a customer that has been checked against the logs of a host and found that they correlate. In this way the identity of a person could be discovered.
She notes earlier:
Of course, in the huge, complex world of the web, tracing the writer of a defamatory comment is a lot more difficult than finding an article in a newspaper.
However, it is possible to trace offending bloggers with a bit of perseverance and lawyers often find that a formal complaint to the website host or internet service provider (ISP) and to the administrator of the website will lead to the removal of the offending material, without the need for litigation.
She seems to suggest that this is obviouslya good thing. Good, perhaps, for a person who feels wronged, but not good for freedom of speech. It simply means that the material was contested and the host folded at the first sign of a legal battle. It does not necessarily mean the material was libelous. I guess it’s a good thing for lawyers too, those letters do cost money.
As Dick noted, “McCann FitzGerald are flagging themselves as the go-to guys on internet libel. If someone does feel they’ve been libelled by a blogger, here’s a firm advertising itself as knowing what they’re talking about.”
The Cost of War
Jonathan Weisman at the Washington Post has an interesting article on the increasing cost of the war in Iraq. The rate of spending is enormous:
The cost of the war in U.S. fatalities has declined this year, but the cost in treasure continues to rise, from $48 billion in 2003 to $59 billion in 2004 to $81 billion in 2005 to an anticipated $94 billion in 2006, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. The U.S. government is now spending nearly $10 billion a month in Iraq and Afghanistan, up from $8.2 billion a year ago, a new Congressional Research Service report found.
One can imagine that if the disengagement happens as planned, the costs may peak at $100 billion a year.
New look
Slightly modified theme. Impressions?
DOW Jones to reach record high?
It looks like the Dow Jones Industrial Average is about to surpass the record levels it was reaching prior to September 11 2001. The Dow reached a high in May 2001, at 11,301. The highest closing figure of the Dow Jones was 11,722 in January 2000, right before the bursting of the dot com bubble.
Right after September 11 it plummeted to 8235, returning to an average of about 10,000 in the last few years. At close yesterday it reached 11,268.
Aine Chambers on Podge and Rodge
It finally happened, much to the delight of Damien no doubt.
Whoah
Someone loses the head…
Who’s going to pay for the air?
Bush breaks the law?
Not only did George Bush get a gift of an iPod from Bono, he apparently illegally rips CDs (or has someone do it for him)
(via Boing)
Suspect blogged about cannibalism
If he is guilty of what he is alleged to have done, his blog might be useful to those interested in the mind of a very very sick individual.
I guess his first entry in September 2002 might betray a certain fondness for violence.
They say there’s a good chance of another attack of some kind tomorrow, (or today if you want to be really anal about it). Now I’m not hoping they attack, I’m not going that far, but if they do, let’s just say I’ll be watching the news coverage of it for the entertainment value.
Red FM blogs
It went below my ‘blogdar’ as it were, but Red FM here in Cork seems to have an inordinate amount of staff blogging. Not alone that but it appears they are being actively encouraged to do so by management. Just a shame almost none of them have blogrolls to let the rest of us know they exist!
Philip Bourke, Martina, Viv Crowley, Victor Barry, Steven Cooper , KC, Stevie G– welcome to the blogosphere…and there’s a whole lot more bloggers here in Cork now! 🙂