"Google is not liable for defamatory material that appears in its search results, a British judge has ruled, a decision that lawyers call significant because of the country’s reputation as a haven for libel claimants."
This raises the question as to just how liable is a provider for the means by which someone else supplies content. Apparently, the court has shown some sense. It is different, however, when the provider is in clear cognizance of the inappropriateness of content and ignores it, as in the recent case against Craig's List whose humans knew that prostitution was being pushed by some of their ads.
"Craigslist, the San Francisco-based online marketplace that's been around for nearly as long as the Web, has always hosted ads for prostitution. That supposedly changed earlier this month when the site closed its "erotic services" section, replacing it with an "adult services" page where posts must be pre-approved to ensure they don't offer sex for sale. For all appearances, the move is a concession to the panic over Philip Markoff, the accused "Craigslist Killer," who has been charged with the murder and assault of Erotic Services advertisers this April."
Attitudes and rules are constantly changing. Any of us who have ever been embarrassed by our parents or our children know that you can have no real control over whatever comes out of anyone's else's mouth. However, the reason that libel laws exist is that there are consequences to many printed inaccuracies. With television, it is worse since more people see the titillating mistakes but are often not apt to be around when the repercussions become overt.
As media grew from the 70s and on, this has been an interesting legal issue to follow. For a better understanding of what libel and slander are all about: go here. It is very clearly defined and it has not so much to do with what is said or written as it has to do with consequences of whatever was written or said.
Since we are a society protected to the right of free speech, we need to realize that not all speech is, in fact, free. When people speak opinions that can hurt careers or reputations on no foundation for what has been said but believed by virtue of who said it, that is when someone has crossed the line.
court standing up for media in the 80's
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/trial-procedure-jurisdiction/7496430-1.html
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