Could landmark media case shackle World Wide Web? Hyperbolic visions of the web's future are emerging in a landmark legal battle being waged in Canada -- pitting the Washington Post and 50 media giants against an aggrieved former United Nations official.
The case hinges on whether a person who believes they have been wronged on a website can challenge a foreign publication in court where they live -- or in a place where they may chose to reside in future. [...]
The Post is challenging an earlier court ruling that a former UN official Cheickh Bangoura can sue the Post in Ontario over two articles that accused him of sexual and financial transgressions.
The paper and backers including CNN, the London Times and the Yomiuri Shimbun, argue that if the case goes ahead, any media organisation could be sued anywhere, over stories posted on its website. [...]
Critics warned the ruling would force media firms to employ lawyers in virtually every country in the world with an online connection.
Web surfers living in jurisdictions where libel laws are stricter than in the United States, for instance Canada or Britain -- may find themselves blocked from some content on newspaper websites, they warn.
The Post case is complicated by the fact that the alleged libels, in articles in 1997, did not even take place while Bangoura was living in Canada, and he did not take up residence in Ontario until 2000.
