Cases

Bunt v Tilley & Others

Comment

This is a reassuring case for ISPs, who would have been concerned if an alternative outcome meant they had routinely to monitor activities of hundreds of thousands of customers. The judgment takes the position of the “passive media” considered in Godfrey v Demon Internet Ltd a stage further, and introduces by judicial decision for the first time consideration of the 2002 Electronic Commerce Regulations. ISPs are unlikely to be concerned as to the precise mechanism by which the Regulations, the Defamation Act 1996 and the common law give them practical immunity in relation to actions of their customers of which they are unaware. But this judgment is useful for media lawyers, putting a number of current issues concerning responsibility for Internet and electronic publication into the context of English libel law’s attempt to keep up with the technology.

Areas of work

Defamation
Harassment
Media Law

Also