A tangled web

Not having studied the matter, Guambat will not even hazard a statement about the current status of libel and the internet, except to say that issues remain far from settled.

The most recent case law statement comes from California, not surprising given the Free Speech Movement got boosted along in the Great and Grand '60's at UC Berkeley, which henceforthe has been called Berzerkly, the Republic of Berkeley, etc., and been the butt of many jokes by people who prefer to be told what to think than to think out loud. See, Court expands blog immunity.

That "immunity", though, is not universal and some places, such as Australia, have, in the eyes of Americans used to Bill of Rights protections for speech, fairly rough rules on libel. So the jurisdiction of the court can have significant consequences, and here, again, the US and Australia take differing stands.

The US: US court decision limits jurisdiction for internet libel

Australia: High Court makes landmark ruling on Internet jurisdiction in libel cases

And the issues don't end there. See, Times for a Change: Loutchansky v Times Newspaper by Lilian Edwards, Senior Lecturer, Edinburgh University