Abstract
This chapter provides an analysis of the recent landmark cases of the CJEU and ECtHR on the role and liability of Online Service Providers (OSPs) in policing content on the Internet. The authors assess legal arguments in Google France, eBay, UPC TeleKabel Wien and Delfi to discover how the rulings accommodate the right to freedom of expression and the safe harbours in the EU E-Commerce Directive. They examine how knowledge and awareness of illegal content impact the OSPs responsibilities and duties (of care) to restrict content. Finally, they seek guidance in Roman law and the concepts of ‘bonus pater familias’ and ‘bonus ac diligens scriptor’ to fully understand the position and the responsibilities of the OSPs.
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Notes
- 1.
US CDA, Section 230 (c)(2) provides that: No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be held liable on account of – (A) any action voluntarily taken in good faith to restrict access to or availability of material that the provider or user considers to be obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable, whether or not such material is constitutionally protected; (B) any action taken to enable or make available to information content providers or others the technical means to restrict access to material described in paragraph (1).
References
Case Law
CJEU Google France SARL v. Centre national de recherche en relations humaines (CNRRH) SARL (Joined cases C-236/08 to C-238/08) ECLI:EU:C:2010:159
CJEU L’Oréal SA v. Ebay International AG (C-324/09) ECLI:EU:C:2011:474
CJEU Scarlet Extended SA v. Société belge des auteurs, compositeurs et éditeurs SCRL (SABAM) (C-70/10) ECLI:EU:C:2011:771
CJEU Belgische Vereniging van Auteurs, Componisten en Uitgevers CVBA (SABAM) v. Netlog NV (C-360/10) ECLI:EU:C:2012:85
CJEU UPC Telekabel Wien GmbH v. Constantin Film Verleih GmbH (C-314/12) ECLI:EU:C:2014:192
CJEU Sotiris Papasavvas v. O Fileleftheros Dimosia Etairia Ltd (C-291/13) ECLI:EU:C:2014:2209
ECtHR (Grand Chamber) 16 June 2015, Delfi AS v. Estonia (no. 65469/09)
ECtHR 2 February 2016, Magyar Tartalomszolgaltatok Egyesülete and Index.hu ZRT v. Hungary (no. 22947/13)
Legislation
Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market (Directive on electronic commerce). O.J. 2000, L 178/1
Ethical Codes
BBC. Editorial Guidelines – Section 17: Interacting with our audiences. http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/editorialguidelines/pdfs/Section_17_Interacting.pdf
Danish Press Council. Press Ethical Rules. http://www.pressenaevnet.dk/Information-in-English/The-Press-Ethical-Rules.aspx
Finnish Council for Mass Media. 2011. Guidelines for Journalists – Annex: Material generated by the public on a media website. http://www.jsn.fi/en/guidelines_for_journalists/
Flemish Council for Journalism. 2010. Code of Practice. http://rvdj.be/sites/default/files/pdf/code_of_practice.pdf
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Valcke, P., Kuczerawy, A., Ombelet, PJ. (2017). Did the Romans Get It Right? What Delfi, Google, eBay, and UPC TeleKabel Wien Have in Common. In: Taddeo, M., Floridi, L. (eds) The Responsibilities of Online Service Providers. Law, Governance and Technology Series, vol 31. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47852-4_6
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