An International Comparison of ISP’s Liabilities for Unlawful Third Party Content
Since the commercial introduction of the internet the question of legal liability for internet service providers (ISPs) for unlawful content which is disseminated by third parties has been a fundamental issue. Content on the internet can be illegal for numerous reasons. In the past, main reasons for governments to impose duties on access providers were to fight objectionable content. Objectionable content usually affects matters of general public interest and interferes with general standards, norms, morality, and conventions. In respect of this definition, material like e.g. pornography without age verification, child pornography, hate speech, or extreme violence has mostly been subject to regulatory measures. This essay will compare different approaches regarding ISP liability. It will outline the regulatory framework of the EU, will exemplify how this is applied and interpreted in the UK and Germany, and will expose governance in North America, Australia, and New Zealand.
