Libel Threat Brings Down Blogs in UK [1]

Robin Hamman noted [2] yesterday that a number of UK bloggers had their blogs taken down by their ISP following threats of legal action by Uzbek billionaire Alisher Usmanov. According to Hamman:

The bloggers, who were unlikely to have previously heard of or mentioned Mr. Usmanov, were unwittingly caught up in a dispute between Mr. Usmanov and blogger Craig Murray, a former British Ambassador to Uzbekistan. . . . In response, Hundreds of UK bloggers [3] have now rallied round and added buttons [4] showing their support for free speech rights.

Hamman followed up [5] with an interview [6] on the BBC discussing the controversy and the need for legal protection for hosting providers. Unlike the United States, where section 230 of the Communications Decency Act [7] provides immunity to hosting providers -- and other interactive computer services -- for tort claims arising from content provided by third-parties, UK law holds the hosting provider responsible for the statements of users. As a result, you get takedowns [8] like this.