How the law governs what you can and can’t do on the internet

While using the internet may make people feel anonymous, in actual fact the reverse is true.

Every email, forum posting, website visit and download can be logged, stored and brought up again at a later date.

To add complexity to the problem the international nature of internet traffic means that other countries’ legal systems may be just as important as UK law if a case is brought.

In this feature we’ll explain how to stay on the right side of the law and avoid many of the common pitfalls people fall into to. Safe surfing is perfectly possible if a few simple guidelines are followed.

Since its inception the internet has run into the same laws that govern the offline world, and there is now a serious body of case law showing what is, and is not, acceptable behaviour.

In some cases existing laws have been applied to online behaviour, and in others new laws have been created to cover the new technology. Although a British judge was recently found to be ignorant of what a web page actually was, lawyers across the globe are well aware of internet law and are prepared to enforce it.

Speak no evil
One of the most common types of legal action taken involving the internet is libel. This is particularly relevant to Britain because we have a different approach to libel than most other countries, with the burden of proof on the defendant to show their comments were true or justified rather than on the accuser to prove they were maliciously inaccurate.

Payouts for libel also tend to be larger here than in other countries.

The situation is further complicated by the international nature of internet traffic. Because the internet relies on servers around the world it has been argued in legal cases that it is possible to bring actions in a variety of countries, either because traffic has passed through t heir servers or the comments have been read by people in that country.

“All this has led to cases of libel shopping,” said Robert Lands, a partner in media and internet law at legal firm Finer Stephens Innocent.

“Cases can be bought in this country for actions on websites based in other countries. If someone sues for libel they’ll do it in this country.”

The laws of libel are relatively simple, and were last updated in the 1996 Defamation Act.

Put simply there are two types of defamation: slander – when defamation is spoken – and libel – when it is written.

In order to libel someone you have to write something that exposes them to hatred, ridicule or contempt or harms their business or personal reputation. For example, if someone was to write that a murderer used to drive while drunk this would be unlikely to make it to the courts, since his reputation as a killer would outweigh the accusation of drunk driving.

If the same allegation was made about a racing driver the case would be more likely to go to court if it were untrue, since it would harm the his professional as well as personal reputation.

It’s also important to remember that republishing libellous information that someone else has posted is also an offence. As the legal mantra goes, repetition is no legal defence.