Some might be interested by legal issues concerning ISP and their responsability torward site contents.
IRIS is a french association member of GILC (Global Internet Liberty Campaign, http://www.gilc.org/) and the person who sent the mail below is IRIS's representant. Feel free to contact her directly, or the association (iris-contact at iris.sgdg.org) if you want more info.
IRIS : Imaginons un Reseau Internet Solidaire (http://www.iris.sgdg.org/)
>Date: Sat, 29 May 1999 11:55:57 +0200
>From: Meryem Marzouki <meryem.marzouki at dial.oleane.com>
>Subject: France - ISP liability : major developments
>To: gilc-plan at gilc.org
>Cc: bureau at iris.sgdg.org
>Reply-To: gilc-plan at gilc.org
>
>Hi there,
>
>Sorry for having been silent for a long time. We were busy with very
>important developments regarding ISP liability here in France.
>The very good news is that the French national assembly has adopted two
>amendments to the freedom of communication law. They were proposed by a
>socialist deputy, a honorary member of Iris (Patrick Bloche).
>
>I'll be back to you with more details on that. But let me tell you that one
>of the amendment says that ISPs cannot be made liable for any content
>hosted by them or which they give public access if :
>
>1. They are not involved in the authoring of this content
>2. They have taken appropriate measures to suppress the public access to
>this content WHEN THEY HAVE BEEN INFORMED (or told to do so) BY THE JUSTICE
>AUTHORITIES
>
>This is a victory, although this law now has to be voted by the senate (the
>lower chamber), and then be examined again in a second reading by the
>national assembly.
>
>I'm just back from a week spent in Germany, without reading my emails.
>Thus, I've just heard what's going on in Australia. But I think that our
>Australian partners, as well as all GILC partners can take advantage of
>these very democratic advances in France.
>
>Those of you who can read French can have a look at our dossier on these
>amendments : http://www.iris.sgdg.org/actions/loi-comm
>I'll update the site this week-end. But, starting from now, I would like
>that GILC put some efforts on translating the documents on this site into
>English, with our help, since what's happening in France could be a very
>strong arguments for all GILC partners to help them in their actions in
>their respective countries.
>
>We should also use that to try to have this precision (ISP informed by
>JUSTICE authorities) included in the EU directive on electronic commerce,
>which has been adopted on May 8th by the EP. I don't know if the directive
>has already been approved by the Council, and, if not yet adopted, I don't
>know when it should be examined by the Council.
>
>If you have some capabilities in reading French and translating into
>English, could you please identify yourself on this list, so as to set up a
>working group of 3-4 people, including me, to have this translation made
>and used ? Thanks. Someone also familiar with English law 'jargon' is
>specially needed (e.g. Dave Banisar and/or David Sobel...)
>
>Meryem
>
>PS. Mark, and others : it's a very good idea to organize an NGO meeting in
>October in Paris during next OECD meeting. I'll be back to you and/or to
>the list on this matter. You can already be sure that IRIS will fully
>participate in the organization : local arrangements, and more.
>
>--
>Meryem Marzouki - Pages personnelles : http://asim.lip6.fr/~marzouki
>IRIS - 294 rue de Charenton, 75012 Paris, France
>Tel/Fax: +33(0)144749239 - http://www.iris.sgdg.org