Posted by Graeme in Politics at 10:19 am on Friday, 21 September 2007

Alisher Usmanov’s shut down of Criag Murray’s blog is yet another example of how British law makes it easy for the rich to shut down less well heeled critics with the threat of legal action. They do not need to actually convince a court that they have been libelled.

The underlying problem is that web hosting companies can be liable any conent distributed by their servers. This is as ludicrous as holding BT liable for a libellous telephone conversation over their network.

Hosting companies cannot take the risk (after all, they did not write or publish the material, how can they know if it is libellous or not), so they simply shut down any site that they get a threatening letter over.

The end result is that only those will enough money to make more expensive arrangements can freely ciriticise litigous individuals. The amount of money involved is not huge, but a significant barrier to many private individuals.

If having a dedicted server is sufficient to remove responsibility from hosting companies (as they no longer control the server), then we are looking at a minumum of Â£300 a year (typically a lot more though) for online free speech. If it requires hiring data centre racks, or connections to your own premises, it would be many thousands of pounds a year.

Many other countries (including the US) grant a “common carrier” exemption to webhosts. This means that the person who can be sued for libel is the publsiher of a website. This is perfectly fair, they are responsible, not everyone who supplies them with IT services.

In this particular case Craig Murray is a fairly well known person,a former British Ambassador to Uzbeckistan. He has raised very serious allegations against (Uzbeck billionaire) Alisher Usmanov. He has also stated that he would like to be sued so that a British court could decide on the truth of the allegations.

Rather than clear his name by suing Murray, Usmanov’s lawyers have gone for an easy way of shutting Murray up. Why?

As far as I am concerned, Usmanov public behaviour, in a attempting to suppress discussion in this way is sufficient to convince me he is someone we do not want in Britain. The UK has strict immigration laws that make it impossible for ordinary foreign people (unless higly skilled) to work in the country, and which put many tourists though extensive tests (interviews, fingerprinting, checks of police records… …). Why has Usmanov been allowed in with credible and serious allegations against him? Why do the rich always get a free pass?

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Comments(30)

Comment by Chicken Yoghurt » Public Service Announcement UPDATED at 10:26 am on 21 September 2007 at

[…] Linkage: Thanks to one and all, I think we can safely say the genie is out of the bottle: Curious Hamster, Pickled Politics, Harry’s Place, Tim Worstall, Dizzy, Iain Dale, Ten Percent, Blairwatch, Davide Simonetti, Earthquake Cove, Turbulent Cleric (who suggests dropping a line to the FA about Mr Usmanov), Mike Power, Jailhouse Lawyer, Suesam, Devil’s Kitchen, The Cartoonist, Falco, Casualty Monitor, Forever Expat, Arseblog, Drink-soaked Trots, Pitch Invasion, Wonko’s World, Roll A Monkey, Caroline Hunt, Westminster Wisdom, Chris K, Anorak, Mediawatchwatch, Norfolk Blogger, Chris Paul, Indymedia (with a list of Craig Murray’s articles that are currently unavailable), Obsolete, Tom Watson, Cynical Chatter, Reactionary Snob, Mr Eugenides, Matthew Sinclair, The Select Society, Liberal England, Davblog, Peter Gasston Pitch Perfect, Adelaide Green Porridge Cafe, Lunartalks, Tygerland, The Crossed Pond, Our Kingdom, Big Daddy Merk, Daily Mail Watch, Graeme’s. […]

Comment by Missing Bloggers at Cynical Chatter From The Underworld at 12:04 pm on 21 September 2007 at

[…] Cafe, Lunartalks, Tygerland, The Crossed Pond, Our Kingdom, Big Daddy Merk, Daily Mail Watch, Graemeâ€™s, Random Thoughts, Nosemonkey, Matt Wardman, Politics in the Zeros, Love and Garbage, The Huntsman, […]

Comment by Pickled Politics » Bloggers under threat at 12:20 pm on 21 September 2007 at

[…] C, Davblog, Peter G Pitch Perfect, AGPC, Lunartalks, Crossed Pond, Big Daddy Merk, Mail Watch, Graemeâ€™s, Random Thoughts, Nosemonkey, Matt W, PoliZeros, Love & Garbage, Huntsman, Party Reptile, […]

Comment by Pickled Politics » Bloggers under threat at 12:20 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by Podnosh Blog : High Fibre Podcasting » Archive » Bob Piper offline because of censorship…. at 1:24 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by Pitch Invasion · Usmanov Raises the Stakes at 1:30 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by Pitch Invasion · 2007 · September · 21 at 1:32 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by The Select Society » Blog Archive » Not sure I'm liking this very much at 3:24 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by Alisher Usmanov is a scumbag « Amused Cynicism at 3:56 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by Blogs down… (updated) « Samantha, Gordon, & Me at 5:24 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by Tim Worstall » Blog Archive » Corporate Advertising The Right Way: A Message to Schillings re Alisher Usmanov at 5:53 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by The Perfect Pitch » Blog Archive » Usmanov shows his true colours at 6:02 pm on 21 September 2007 at

[…] Cafe, Lunartalks, Tygerland, The Crossed Pond, Our Kingdom, Big Daddy Merk, Daily Mail Watch, Graeme’s, Random Thoughts, Nosemonkey, Matt Wardman, Politics in the Zeros, Love and Garbage, The Huntsman, […]

Comment by Alisher Usmanov- Come On Feel Tha Noize! « Ten Percent at 7:12 pm on 21 September 2007 at

Comment by mediawatchwatch.org.uk » Bloggerheads silenced by ex-con at 10:40 am on 22 September 2007 at

Comment by Arseblog - It’s fuckin’ excellent…an Arsenal blog - COLUMNS » Blog Archive » Usmanov’s lawyers take down websites at 4:47 pm on 22 September 2007 at

Comment by This is England (and Scotland and Wales) « The Bristol Blogger at 7:41 am on 23 September 2007 at

Comment by Alisher Usmanov: Boris Johnson On Free Speech » Anorak News at 7:49 pm on 23 September 2007 at

Comment by Alisher Alisher Usmanov courting online PR disaster, closing down Boris Johnson et al : moninski.com: PR and beyond at 9:16 pm on 23 September 2007 at

Comment by A Public Service Announcement « UFO Breakfast Recipients at 3:28 am on 24 September 2007 at

Comment by Free speech should not be expunged by legal bullying! « Curly’s Corner Shop, the blog! at 12:06 pm on 24 September 2007 at

Comment by BreverÃas I « 14 de abril at 5:59 pm on 24 September 2007 at

Comment by Skuds’ Sister’s Brother » 224 and counting at 12:18 am on 25 September 2007 at

Comment by Marginalized Action Dinosaur » Alisher Usmanov is a criminal at 3:53 pm on 25 September 2007 at

Comment by Usmanov allegations repeated in European Parliament Debate byTom Wise MEP | The Wardman Wire at 7:23 am on 26 September 2007 at

Comment by Three hundred and two (302) « Amused Cynicism at 5:26 pm on 27 September 2007 at

Comment by Ulla’s Amazing Wee Blog » Usmanov bribes journalists… at 4:37 pm on 5 October 2007 at

Comment by Marginalized Action Dinosaur » Usmanov cont, at 4:10 pm on 13 October 2007 at

Comment by asn14 » Blog Archive » “???????????????” at 7:26 am on 1 December 2007 at

Comment by More than fashionably late - The Alisher Usmanov Affair « The Ink at 11:44 am on 13 December 2007 at

Comment by Political Penguin » The case of the amazing disappearing blogs at 2:49 am on 1 September 2008 at

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Free speech is dead

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