Liability in Cyberspace: Some Key Legal Issues when Publishing Material Online that Refers to Individuals

Publishing has always attracted a number of legal risks, and information professionals that publish materials in some way or another have always had to be aware of those risks, and the practical steps that can be taken to reduce them. This is especially so when the material being published (or, say, included in a publicly available archive) relates to a living identifiable individual. The growth of the Internet has far outpaced changes in the law. This has brought about a new set of risks for publishers borne out of the ambiguity of applying traditional ‘paper based’ laws to new media and also, generally, out of the global availability of information posted on the Internet and therefore the potential application of laws of more than one country. The rapidly increasing use of the Internet by information professionals as a standard tool for disseminating access to materials and information means that they need to be aware of the risks associated with online publishing, the way the law is moving to address those risks, and what steps can be taken to reduce them. This article looks at two key legal risks which arise in relation to the making available online materials which relate to individuals: libel and data protection. It not only looks at the risks in England (under English law) but focuses on the risk, due to the global availability of the Internet, of someone placing material on the Internet finding themselves liable under the laws of other countries. It examines some recent cases and goes on to provide some advice as to practical steps that can be taken to reduce risk associated with making available materials online which relate to individuals.