From time to time I may present a view about some legal issue or scenario. Those views are my personal views and are not intended to be legal opinion on any specific issue. If you need legal advice on an issue feel free to contact me directly or consult your preferred legal adviser. Whatever you do, do not rely on any legal views expressed here unless I expressly say that it is safe to do so (which I probably won't anyway).
As for any other opinion I give or view I present, you take your chances there too.
Nevermind copyright infringement, what happens when a content sharing site hosts content that amounts to hate speech? If you are in the group of people targeted by that content, do you sue for its removal? There is a chance that could happen in Germany where Jewish community groups may take action against Google for hosting Nazi propaganda video clips on YouTube. It raises an interesting question. Hate speech is not protected by the right to freedom of expression in our Bill of Rights as well as in a number of similar Constitutional provisions in foreign jurisdictions.
If there is content that amounts to hate speech and which is available in a country which outlaws it (like South Africa), we could start to see community activists taking action against the services that host that content. It would be really interesting to see how differing standards of free expression are dealt with and whether that content may be blocked in one country and allowed in another or simply removed altogether? I wonder what would happen if content qualified for protection under a country’s free expression laws and was banned under another?
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28 August 2007 at 21:13
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