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On Content Ownership (or How Disqus Received a Lawsuit Threat)

Started by Daniel Ha · 1 year ago

Since being in a “public beta” for a month now, we’ve been covered and reviewed on a number of different places. We pay close attention to how we’re received and what people like or dislike. The main concern that people have is on the ownership of the content that comes from the discussion. If you […] ... Continue reading »

36 comments

  • Europeans gone wild. Well handled.
  • Great work Daniel!

    w
  • This guy obviously is not a professional. A big-time President (as he claims) would never get involved. Bogus.
  • Europeans gone wild. Well handled.
  • It seems that this person is jumping too quickly to conclusions, and needs to re-evaluate the law as well as their threats.
  • This guy obviously is not a professional. A big-time President (as he claims) would never get involved. Bogus.
  • It seems that this person is jumping too quickly to conclusions, and needs to re-evaluate the law as well as their threats.
  • That's crazy. Will you keep us updated and what do you plan to do?

    Good luck.
  • if it is removing a one profile, why don't you try contacting that user, and try to figure out if he is using someone else's name, just get this dude off your back. so he doesn't waste any more of your time. :D
  • The man in question does not understand how Disqus works, unfortunately. There was not a profile created, only an anonymously comment made under his name.

    We aren't wasting too much time dealing with him. It brought up some good points that i was meaning to write about anyway.
  • I love your site guys....but you are def wrong here. There are plenty of cases of webmasters and web creators that have been forced to pay huge sums. If someone attacks you on my phpbb2 forum for example writing that you are, for example, a child molester. You then ask me to remove it and I refuse. Then I am in big trouble....It really is crazy because it is so hard to control what people are writing.

    You can read more about it here:

    http://www.dba-oracle.com/internet_cyberlibel_u...

    "one who repeats or otherwise republishes a libel is subject to liability as if he had originally published it."

    Not only can you be sued in the USA. If this guy is in Europe they could potentially sue you in Europe too. That is a killer since you would potentially be handed over to trial in Europe. Can you post here what they said about the guy?
  • Hi again...and thank you for the reply. I still argue that you are on very thin ice. It was a while ago since I studied law and I have not been practicing. However, the rulings you are referring to is most to be applied to ISPs. Myspace has a clear policy and will remove profiles if people complain. Why not follow their rulings. Do you really think myspace have no clue what they are doing? You will have a very hard time arguing in front of a judge that you did not want to remove slander because you read something on Wikipedia.

    here is some cases with myspace and libel.

    http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/5344
    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/art...

    If this guy is a big time guy (probably not) then how much is his name worth? You could be spending 2 years in court and then if you lose they will come knocking on your door. Are you guys LLC? If not you need to protect yourself today!!!

    I think it is wise to chose the battle one fights. Are you sure it is wise for you to open up your site for people wanting to slander other people? Did you inform the guy that he should contact the blog user? If not then you might be in trouble again. I could not find any privacy policy on your site at all? That could be a problem too. I would not want to spend two years in court of a thing like this.

    What I am trying to say that I think you guys need to figure out where you want to take your site. What if someone starts posting Nazi comments? Will you protect that right?

    Man I am rambling....anyway I hope you get something out of this. Whatever you guys decide good luck...
  • wow
  • wow
  • Great work Daniel!

    w
  • Great work Daniel!

    w
  • If you use Disqus, does Disqus own and control your comments?

    The answer, of course, is No. One of the great things about using Disqus is that ownership is given back to the content creator. If you’ve left comments somewhere, it can be a great contribution that you’d like attributed to you forever. And it’s not chained down or lost to these separate blog islands.
    ....Thanks for clearing it up!
  • Thanks for this very interesting article about he lawsuit disqus had receive.
  • Thanks for this very interesting article about he lawsuit disqus had receive.
  • what's happening to my comments disqus?
  • what's happening to my comments disqus?
  • Well handled as i can see. Well, it is this that justifies content actually belongs to the users and site-owners. However, when reputation is concerned, i believe it will be good if you can advise the site-owners to remove them if they deemed necessary.
  • Well handled as i can see. Well, it is this that justifies content actually belongs to the users and site-owners. However, when reputation is concerned, i believe it will be good if you can advise the site-owners to remove them if they deemed necessary.
  • Thats bad . But you guys handled it well. I think it great to save a copy of our own comments. We can use it as reference in the future.
  • Thats bad . But you guys handled it well. I think it great to save a copy of our own comments. We can use it as reference in the future.
  • thanks!
  • Some people have no Idea how to adapt to the way the world operates now.
  • Some people have no Idea how to adapt to the way the world operates now.
  • Some people have no Idea how to adapt to the way the world operates now.
  • Some people have no Idea how to adapt to the way the world operates now.
  • great post sir..
    thanks for sharing. really helped a lot here.
    --------------------------------------------------
    Ugg Boots | Uggs
  • It seems that if he didn't like the person's comments. He should of removed his comment.
  • I love your site guys....but you are def wrong here. There are plenty of cases of webmasters and web creators that have been forced to pay huge sums. If someone attacks you on my phpbb2 forum for example writing that you are, for example, a child molester. You then ask me to remove it and I refuse. Then I am in big trouble....It really is crazy because it is so hard to control what people are writing.

    You can read more about it here:

    http://www.dba-oracle.com/internet_cyberlibel_u...

    "one who repeats or otherwise republishes a libel is subject to liability as if he had originally published it."

    Not only can you be sued in the USA. If this guy is in Europe they could potentially sue you in Europe too. That is a killer since you would potentially be handed over to trial in Europe. Can you post here what they said about the guy?
  • Thanks for weighing in and for the links, Billy. The first example in
    your link cites Section 230 of the CDA. Here are some good reads:

    - Section 230 of the CDA on Wikipedia
    - Barrett v. Rosenthal

    While we were alerted, we asked that he take his request to the site-
    owner instead. It seems more appropriate that they remove the comment,
    not us.

    I also think libel is the point of contention here. The comment left
    was a criticism of the man's business practices, and I don't think it
    could be labeled as libel.
  • Hi again...and thank you for the reply. I still argue that you are on very thin ice. It was a while ago since I studied law and I have not been practicing. However, the rulings you are referring to is most to be applied to ISPs. Myspace has a clear policy and will remove profiles if people complain. Why not follow their rulings. Do you really think myspace have no clue what they are doing? You will have a very hard time arguing in front of a judge that you did not want to remove slander because you read something on Wikipedia.

    here is some cases with myspace and libel.

    http://cyberlaw.stanford.edu/node/5344
    http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/art...

    If this guy is a big time guy (probably not) then how much is his name worth? You could be spending 2 years in court and then if you lose they will come knocking on your door. Are you guys LLC? If not you need to protect yourself today!!!

    I think it is wise to chose the battle one fights. Are you sure it is wise for you to open up your site for people wanting to slander other people? Did you inform the guy that he should contact the blog user? If not then you might be in trouble again. I could not find any privacy policy on your site at all? That could be a problem too. I would not want to spend two years in court of a thing like this.

    What I am trying to say that I think you guys need to figure out where you want to take your site. What if someone starts posting Nazi comments? Will you protect that right?

    Man I am rambling....anyway I hope you get something out of this. Whatever you guys decide good luck...
  • I appreciate the advice and we'll be approaching this carefully.

    The site-owner contacted me and let me know the comment will be
    removed. That's the resolution I was hoping for, even if the legal
    risks were spotty at best. We really don't have time to play with
    such, erm, eccentricity.

    Thanks again.

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