Liability of Internet Service Providers: Recent Developments

With the Internet came new freedom regarding the provision of information in an environment which was believed to be unregulated by existing laws and conventions. As this brave new world met the often unfortunate reality of human nature and the commercial world, it became increasingly apparent to many that this could not continue. The result has been a complex web of international treaties, national case law and national legislation. This has led many to consider that, far from being the unregulated new frontier of its initial creators, the Internet is regulated to an extent which can often give rise to controversial and conflicting issues. Many of these relate to defamation and infringement of intellectual property rights and include the extent to which Internet service providers ("ISP"s) should be liable for content posted on websites.