A French court has found that the publisher of a web site is liable for invasion of privacy because it republished rumors, via RSS feeds, that were themselves libelous. See French Websites liable for story in RSS reader (Out-Law.com). The publishers of the 3rd-party sites had to pay fines of between 500 and 1,000 Euro. Out-Law.com, a British legal news site, notes that, “while there has not been a test case in the UK on link liability,” there is a legal precedent that could be relevant in English common law: “A Court of Appeal ruling … found that a man who stood by a roadside placard drawing the attention of passers by to it was liable for its defamatory content, even though he did not create or erect the placard.”
This French case may not have any relevance in the U.S., where the legal concepts of freedom of speech and privacy are differently construed. I find it interesting that one publisher could be guilty of libel by reproducing, without any conscious effort, an RSS feed from another source. One of the strengths of RSS is one of the drawbacks — you subscribe to the feed, come what may.
Do any RSS4Lib readers have opinions on this? Fire away in the comments.
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