Pitfalls and Protection from Booking Agents

davidclayton

I am starting up a web forum in the coming months, and it is based on the topic of music. When seeing what boards is going through at the moment with the booking agent, I start to have serious concerns.

Controlling what the members talk about on a forum is difficult (although boards seems to be handling it well at the moment through good moderation). I am looking at all the options, but is there such a thing as an insurance policy on public speaking to cover any litigation costs that may arise?

The reason I ask is that moderators will be thin on the ground when the site first launches, and the editing/deleting of posts that break the rules may not be as quick as an established forum like boards. I know any insurance is normally expensive, but I just want to know does this type of insurance even exist?

Kali

The only way to protect yourself is probably through carefully worded disclaimers... take a look at a few larger forums and they may have there own legally adjusted versions of these.
There are versions of libel insurance out there, but most likely only to cover you taking action against a third party for defamation of character or the like... but whether these would cover the opposite case I don't know.

davidclayton

I can see 2 documents on the website, but I don't think either would prevent the website getting in trouble over slander allegations, etc.

1. Member Terms & Conditions
This should encourage the member not to post things they shouldn't, but typically people NEVER read this when they sign-up.

2. Website Declaration
This would say that the views expressed by members are not shared with the website owners, etc.

BrianD

There are only two ways to protect yourself - take out a hefty insurance policy or set it up that all posts have to moderated before being published online. I'm sure there is bulletin board software that allows users to post a message but it is not actually publishd until a moderator checks it. Though this takes the immediacy out of it.

The problem that many boards in general have is that the moderators are voluntary or at best part-time. Therefore it may be some time before a problem post can be identified and removed. There is a potential libel timebomb on your hands all the time.

davidclayton

I found a very good article here:
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/law/1077150111.php
From what I can gather, the website owners are only responsible for anything they write themselves, and are not responsible for what their members might write. The members themselves are responsible for their written opinions, but claims against the site or member are reduced if any offending post is deleted before many people view it.

Here's the most interesting part from that article:

www.ojr.org wrote:

The Communications Decency Act -- a statute enacted by Congress in 1996 -- generally protects online publishers from liability for defamatory statements made on their sites by others. For example, a Web site operator generally cannot be held liable for defamatory statements posted by participants on a message board on its site.

However, online publishers can be sued for the content they create.

I guess if you include these details in your terms & conditions (displayed during registration), then you should be fairly ok, but for full peace of mind, you need libel insurance which costs upwards of €1200 per year.

any thoughts?

davidclayton

found a couple more useful articles, for those who are interested:

http://www.kenmc.com/2006/11/21/web-sites-not-liable-us/
http://www.fool.co.uk/pressreleases/2005/pr050324.htm

BrianD

davidclayton wrote:

I found a very good article here:
http://www.ojr.org/ojr/law/1077150111.php
From what I can gather, the website owners are only responsible for anything they write themselves, and are not responsible for what their members might write. The members themselves are responsible for their written opinions, but claims against the site or member are reduced if any offending post is deleted before many people view it.

Here's the most interesting part from that article:



I guess if you include these details in your terms & conditions (displayed during registration), then you should be fairly ok, but for full peace of mind, you need libel insurance which costs upwards of €1200 per year.

any thoughts?

I don't think that will hold up here. Firstly, all web sites are required by EU regulations to display the name and address, company number etc of the owner (so no hiding!). Secondly, if you publish something on the Internet through a web site you own then it's the same as publishing it in a newspaper.

davidclayton

Libel regulations are treated differently in traditional print media and the internet. The editor of a newspaper gets a chance to filter out offensive material before it is published, and a website has no filtering, therefore the author is responsible.

Another interesting article:
http://backseatdrivers.blogspot.com/2006/04/more-on-libel.html
It doesn't answer any questions, but interesting none the less.