Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

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Re: What about The Netherlands?

Author:	Nick Sweeney
Posted:	4/18/2000; 8:56:24 AM
Topic:	On Censorship
Msg #:	16369 (In response to 16367)
Prev/Next:	16368 / 16370

How does it work in The Netherlands? This is the one country that seems to have figured it out in other areas, that control is a waste of effort, and that it's better to deal with problems specifically, not with sweeping laws that just make people go underground.

Go to Ireland. It's the country which seems to have done most to protect ISPs against serial litigation, and also to avoid the ridiculous restrictions on encryption and extension of investigatory powers that is set to become law in the UK. It also offers tax breaks to high-tech industries.

http://www.irlgov.ie/tec/communications/society.htm

From what I can see, the new E-Commerce Bill provides ISPs with a defence of having acted in good faith in accordance with their obligations to customers. My guess is that the Irish ISP business is set to explode.

[An addendum: freedom of expression is constituitionally protected in Ireland, although not to the extent of the First Amendment in the US. More importantly, there's nothing in Irish law like the UK's 1996 Defamation Act, as Kieran Wood's summary points out.]

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