Well this might be the first time I know of that Web hosts have been in a big legal battle, but hey at least we won! This is a good day for any and all Web hosts, because of the ruling that happened a few weeks back in California.

According to industry sources the California Supreme Court ruled that Web publishers (In our case, that would be the Web host) are not liable for the defamatory statements made by site contributors and plaintiffs must look to the original source of the statements to seek recovery.

That means if little Johnny down the street signs up for your Web hosting account and then says something horrible about somebody else, the Web host is not to blame. Personally, I think this is how it should have been all along. The reason it was not this way, was because little Johnny did not have any money. The Web host did.

Here is a little more about the case from the WHIR:

Some analysts say the ruling, while probably correct, might be less than ideal. The idea that Web publishers could, in some cases, be complicit with the comments posted on their sites creates a need for further legislation on the subject.

So maybe it is not set in stone just yet – but it is nice to have at least one case that has set itself out to protect the content hosters and punish the content suppliers.

+ Check Out the Podcast This Was From! Listen to the Web Hosting Show, Podcast 87!