Internet service providers in Israel will have to reveal the identities of people posting anonymous “talkback” responses on Web sites. The ruling applies if a court determines that the comments raise a concern of criminal libel with malicious intent.
Nimrod Kozlovsky, an expert on Internet law with Israel’s Ministry of Justice, said that the ruling shows that the Internet cannot be construed as a space beyond the law.
From the surfers’ perspective, talkbacks are considered an area in which the rules of the game don’t apply. If until today we related to talkbacks as a protected space where no one could chase us, the court came and said – here too, there are rules of the game.
A variety of courts around the world have held that publishing information on a website has much in common with publishing in print media.
A session at The 2006 Canadian Telecom Summit will look at two specific types of illegal content on the internet, hate and child exploitation, and discuss issues surrounding the enforcement of laws.