UCU activist shuts down Harry’s Place
Veteran political blog, Harry’s Place has been shut down after a complaint from an academic whom it claimed had posted links to neo-Nazi articles in an online debate.
Sheffield-based UCU activist Jenna Delich posted a comment in an online discussion of a potential boycott of Israel by the union, in which she linked to, and appeared to endorse, an article posted on the website of American far-right politician David Duke. The site’s host Daily.co.uk subsequently received a complaint that the post was ’slanderous’, and informed Harry’s Place that it would not continue to host the blog’s domain name, saying the bloggers had breached terms of use.
Harry’s Place blogger David T told Index: ‘We have done nothing wrong. We did not breach Daily’s terms and conditions. They have put us out of business, without warning and without an opportunity to make alternative provision.’
Currently in the UK Internet service providers are liable for material posted on websites they host. ‘There should be statutory and blanket immunity for ISPs, as exists in the US,’ said David T.
Daily.co.uk declined to speak to Index, claiming that discussing the issue would breach data protection laws.
Wednesday 27 Aug 2008 | Paul | UK
