Legal Question in Technology Law in New York

Re: concerned about legal issues running a bulletin board

Until you get a more informed response let me tell you that there were decisions involving online services such as AOL and Compuserve with this issue. As I recall, and don't hold me to this, the Compuserve decision held there was no liability because Compuserve did not editorialize the comments but rather simply provided a forum. It is my belief that you have to be conscious that this is an evolving area of the law (because online bulletin boards are a new concept that may not work well with old laws designed for other concepts). It is, however, also my belief that when the dust settles the law will have to protect people who merely run a forum for others to speak, with common sense rules also applying.

For example, a person or organization that publishes names of doctors who perform abortions with the obvious intent of encouraging people to inflict harm are not going to be protected. People who run sites that distribute the code to make illegal copies of DVDs and are plastered with information about how to get and distribute illegal DVD copies, are not going to be protected. But people who merely provide a place where other can share their views will be protected. That's right smack dab in the middle of the First Amendment. I would say that even if you remove some comments you should be protected because you haven't "edited" the comments. However, I wouldn't recommend doing that until the law becomes clear because you can be sure that the "radical" person whose comments you would want to remove will also have the personality type to cause mayhem and even to sue. Probably more trouble than it is worth, unless you want to litigate and create the watershed case that winds up being cited by an eternity of free speech advocates. Hope this helps....