Matt Drudge may still have to answer for his alleged libel of White House aide Sidney Blumenthal, but America Online is off the hook after a federal judge ruled that the Communications Decency Act of 1996 leaves interactive computer services immune from liability for work created by others.
The Wednesday ruling, which Blumenthal said he will appeal, was a big victory for Internet services, holding them as it does to far less exacting editorial standards than traditional media.
"In recognition of the speed with which information may be disseminated and the near impossibility of regulating information content," US District Judge Paul Friedman wrote, "Congress decided not to treat providers of interactive computer services like other information providers such as newspapers, magazines, or television and radio stations, all of which may be held liable for publishing or distributing obscene or defamatory material written or prepared by others."
The Drudge case has its roots in an August 1997 column in which the Net gossiper accused Blumenthal of covering up a "spousal abuse past." Drudge retracted the unsubtantiated allegation but Blumenthal sued him anyway, and included AOL in the US$30 million action because it carried Drudge's work and made the "false story available to [its] 8.6 million subscribers."
In fighting the suit, AOL argued that even though its $3,000-a-month deal with Drudge allowed it to make changes to his copy, the service simply gave its users access to his work and thus under the law was not liable for the content of the reports. Friedman, with much apparent regret, agreed that the law supported that contention.
Meamwhile, Friedman turned down Drudge's bid to have his case moved from Washington to Los Angeles, his home base.
