My Own Pirate Radio

In the US, the Communications Decency Act says it’s the person who created the content. In Canada, as far as I know, that question hasn’t been settled conclusively yet. There is now a lawsuit underway that should shed more light on it. From the Globe and Mail:

The hosts of the speed-of-light world of Internet blogs and interactive websites that publish anonymous commentary should be forced to pay when reputations are damaged, says a former Green Party staff member who is suing three such sites.

Google, the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and openpolitics.ca, a Canadian political website based in Toronto, are being sued in Vancouver in a libel case that could change the way Internet opinion is monitored and published.

This case is critical to track for anybody who is thinking about hosting user-generated content on a Canadian-based website. Which would be just about anyone doing a Web 2.0 service.