(RSF/IFEX) – In an 11 March 2005 letter to Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, RSF outlined its position on an important question of law for online media that has been raised by a former United Nations (UN) official’s libel action in Canada against the “Washington Post”. The question is, can a journalist whose article has […]
(RSF/IFEX) – In an 11 March 2005 letter to Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, RSF outlined its position on an important question of law for online media that has been raised by a former United Nations (UN) official’s libel action in Canada against the “Washington Post”. The question is, can a journalist whose article has been published on the Internet be sued anywhere where the article can be downloaded?
The text of the letter to Justice Minister Cotler follows:
“Reporters Without Borders would like to inform you of its position on a question of law that is currently being considered by a Canadian court in the libel case of Cheickh Bangoura v. Washington Post. We are concerned that this case will have important consequences for press freedom and online freedom of expression that will extend far beyond Canada’s borders. Moreover, we think it would be useful if the federal authorities were to adopt a public position on this issue, without intervening in the court case.
“The question that the judge in this case must answer is the following: can a journalist whose article has been published on the Internet be sued anywhere it can be downloaded? Ruling that it can, as a court in the province of Ontario initially did, implies that any individual who posts something online could be sued over it in any country in the world. If upheld on appeal, this ruling could dissuade many journalists from publishing their articles online.
“The Reporters Without Borders position on this question was clearly expressed during the preparatory meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society last month in Geneva. In our view, a country’s jurisdiction over online content in civil or criminal law applies exclusively to content hosted in its territory or content addressed specifically to its Internet users.”
