DEFAMATION ON THE INTERNET – REVIEW OF RECENT JUDGEMENT

Substantial progress has recently been made in understanding how defamation law reconciles the unfettered reach of the Internet with the reality of investigative journalism. Australia’s High Court has issued a defining judgement, which will be relevant here and in other parts of the globe. This is because of the common law heritage that the two countries share. In a case involving Dow Jones, publishers of the Wall Street journal, the Australian High Court confirmed that a man, resident and in business in Victoria, was entitled to recover damages for libellous material published on the Internet by a non-resident publisher. Translation: technological advances made by the Internet are no reason for any difference in treatment when a publication was on the Internet. http://www.inside.ie/e_article000121728.cfm